Not in DARE

[Wilson Gray]

On 11/18/05, sagehen <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> Subject: Re: Not in DARE
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >Really, dInIs? Who knew? I checked the OED and the 1976 edition of the
> >Random House Dictionary and didn't see it. That is, I found the word in
> both
> >places, but not the relevant meaning. My wife, a Pennsylvania native, had
> no
> >idea what a gangway was, until we went to St. Louis and I showed her the
> old
> >family manse and took her through the gangway to the backyard. I've never
> >lived anywhere but St, Louis where I've seen anything that I would think
> of
> >as a "gangway" and I've never heard "gangway" used anyplace else. But, of
> >course, that could be mere coincidence.
> >
> >Another oddity is that the space between the sidewalk and the curb
> planted
> >with grass and trees is commonplace in St. Louis, but I have not the
> >slightest idea what that is called there. I always considered it to be a
> >part of people's frontyards. I thought that till I saw the DARE request
> for
> >regional names for it. My wife calls that space a "tree lawn." I have
> >"parkway," but that refers to the grassy space planted with flowers - but
> >not trees - between the two sides of a "boulevard," a street eight or
> more
> >lanes wide, a paradigm example being Kingshighway Boulevard in St. Louis.
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On 11/18/05, Dennis R. Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster: "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> >> Subject: Re: Not in DARE
> >>
> >>
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>
> >> I think this is general US (urban); hence, not in DARE.
> >>
> >> dInIs
> >>
> >> >The other day, I heard a local newsreader speak of the "gangway" of a
> >> ship.
> >> >Obviously, what was meant was "gangplank."
> >> >
> >> >DARE has "gangway" as railroader and logger jargon. However, in St.
> >> Louis, a
> >> >"gangway" is a narrow, paved space between two buildings that permits
> >> >passage from the front of one of the buildings to the back of it. In
> >> >residential neighborhoods, the gangway connects to the front walk of a
> >> >residedence and permits passage from the frontyard of that residence
> to
> >> its
> >> >backyard. As you face a house, the gangway to the right leads to the
> >> >backyard of that house, whereas the gangway to the left leads to the
> >> >backyard of the neighboring house. Adolescent boys use these for
> >> tom-peeping
> >> >and males of all ages use them as emergency urinals, much to the
> >> annoyance
> >> >of the homeowners.
> >> >--
> >> >-Wilson Gray
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Dennis R. Preston
> >> University Distinguished Professor
> >> Department of English
> >> 15-C Morrill Hall
> >> Michigan State University
> >> East Lansing, MI 48824-1036
> >> Phone: (517) 353-4736
> >> Fax: (517) 353-3755
> >> preston at msu.edu
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >-Wilson Gray
> ~~~~~~~~
> My New Century Dictionary gives, among other defs.: "/naut/., any of
> various passageways on a ship, as that between the rail and cabins or
> houses on the deck..."
> It has always been my word for the corridor between cabins on shipboard.
> A. Murie
>

I was aboaard ship, once. It was the troopship, MSTS Upshur. I recall that
the folowing was announced several times a day (the loudspeaker was about 2
in. from my head as I lay on my rack):

Now hear this!
Now hear this!
The following-named enlisted men
Lay up to the troop-commander's office this time!
I say again:
Lay up to the troop-commander's office this time!

I still wonder exactly what that meant. I have a brother who was in the
Navy, but he was no help. Troopships, in my day, anyway, were crewed by the
Coast Guard, not by the Navy.
--
-Wilson Gray