shotgun shack, shotgun house, railroad flat, etc

Mullins, Bill Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL
Thu Sep 22 21:22:57 UTC 2005


 A discussion today in the letters of Jim Romanesko's media blog:

http://poynter.org/forum/default.asp?id=32178

brings up "shotgun shack" (is it a redneck term?), "shotgun house",
"railroad flat", and "railroad apartment".


Shotgun shack (Not in OED)

"Most Vital Needs of City of Dallas" by Tom Finty Jr.
Dallas Morning News Jan 30 1912 page 1 col 1.
"But it is said that tears are needlessly shed over these people who
live in the shacks and the "shotguns;" that they have never been used to
anything better; are no account or they wouldn't live in such places;
that if they were given better houses they wouldn't appreciate or
wouldn't care for them."

"Negro Housing" by Lynn W. Landrum, Dallas Morning News, Jan 17, 1947
sec 2 p. 2. col 3.
"The row-house and the apartment house are improvements over shotgun
shacks, of course."

Shotgun house (Not in OED)

[classified ad] Georgia | Atlanta | The Atlanta Constitution |
1909-08-29 p. D5 col 6.
"$1 600 FOR a four-room cottage, with very large and high ceilings. This
is not a shotgun house, as there are two large rooms in front, with a
porch extending across and two rooms back."

"railroad apartment" (not in OED)
Author: New York (State). Title: Fourth report of the Factory
investigating commission, 1915 : transmitted to the Legislature February
15, 1915. Publication date: 1915. p. 1796
"The rooms occupied by this family are dark, being a "railroad"
apartment."

"railroad flat" (OED has 1956); "box flat" (not in OED); "walk up" (OED
has 1919); "push the button" (not in OED)

"Apt Description of Flats"  Illinois | Edwardsville | The Edwardsville
Intelligencer | 1914-05-21 p. 7 col 4.
"Some of the terms used to describe apartments are mystifying to tho
uninitiated, declares the New York Sun.

For instance, "railroad flat" conveys little idea to the novice until it
is explained that this special type of apartment has no private hall.
The back door and the front door both open Into the public hall, and the
rooms follow one after the other, like cars on a railroad train, which
accounts for the expression railroad flat.

A "box flat" is one degree up the scale, for here, while there is no
entire length of private hall, there is a sufficient slice taken from
the bedrooms so that one may walk from the parlor to the dining room
without crossing the two intermediate bedrooms. The tiny hall is boxed
in, hence the name box flat.

A "walk up" speaks for Itself and is easily translated into non-elevator
flat. As a matter of fact, many of the most desirable of the older
apartment houses come under the head of "walk ups."

A "push the button" is still another type which may apply to any of the
others. It is never misleading, as it graphically describes its mode of
entrance. "



More information about the Ads-l mailing list