Boondocks on "brokeback"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jan 24, 2006, at 6:56 PM, Grant Barrett wrote:

> On Jan 24, 2006, at 13:27, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>> i'm away from my atlases, and can't find usable sources on-line, so i
>> can't say anything on the existence of a real Brokeback Mountain, in
>> Wyoming or elsewhere.
>
> I found no mention of any place name with "brokeback" or "broke-back"
> in it in any of these databases:...

... long list.  now that i'm back to one of my big atlases, i see no
"brokeback" or "broke-back", though there are the Brokeoff Mountains
straddilng NM and TX, just southwest of the Guadelupe Mountains.

my guess is that Proulx knew, or suspected, that there was no such
(named)  place, though there could well have been.  the perfect
fictional location.

arnold

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org