Hallucinating distinctions (was New Jersey Dialects)

[Barbara Need]

I associate davenport with a Peanuts cartoon from the 50s. Lucy
claims to have shot someone behind the davenport "and if that's not
fatal I don't know what is!" It is a term that I know and I know the
referent for, but it seems alien to me: childhood Cleveland 1960s.

Barbara

>My students in Ohio did a field project and found "davenport," at least
>in their sample (which admittedly was small), to very age graded (sorry,
>Wilson!)  That is, mainly people over about 50 used it at all.  I
>suspect the same is true here, though I don't think my students have
>done that project here yet.
>
>And I also believe it was a brand name first.
>
>FWIW my grandmother used it all the time-- she was in her 60's at the
>time, in the 1960's in western PA
>
>But for me, it's a couch (with the appropriate Pittsburgh twang of
>course : )
>
>Patti Kurtz
>
>wilson.gray at RCN.COM wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: Hallucinating distinctions (was New Jersey Dialects)
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>dInIs, I'm way disappointed in you, the way you're letting these
>>Northerners define the field of discussion. Uh-oh. I may be pulling a
>>PITS, not realizing that some item that I (formerly) used routinely is,
>>in fact, a localism. In any case, I'm referring to the use of
>>"davenport" in preference to either "couch" or "sofa." "Davenport" was
>>the only term used in East Texas in my childhood, though locals
>>understood both "sofa" and "couch." If I remember rightly, "davenport,"
>>like "frigidaire," was originally a brand name. In this case, it was
>>the brand name of a sofa or couch that could be pulled out into a bed.
>>Currently, my conscious mind prefers "couch." but my fingers appear to
>>like "sofa" better.
>>
>>-Wilson Gray
>>
>>
>
>--
>
>Dr. Patti J. Kurtz
>
>Assistant Professor, English
>
>Director of the Writing Center
>
>Minot State University
>
>Minot, ND 58707
>
>
>
>Foster: What about our evidence? They've got to take notice of that.
>
>
>
>Straker: Evidence. What's it going to look like when Henderson claims
>that we manufactured it, just to get a space clearance program?
>
>
>
>Foster: But we are RIGHT!
>
>
>
>Straker: Sometimes, Colonel, that's not quite enough.