skid row(1931) and "skid road"

Sam Clements SClements at NEO.RR.COM
Sat Sep 9 00:01:59 UTC 2006


Certainly "skid row" to describe a poor, flophouse infested part of town, usually in a large city, first came into print about 1931.  In addition to the term being included in "American Tramp and Underworld Slang," it's cited in Newspaperarchive from the same year in a story about the poor section of San Francisco.   

While the conventional wisdom is that the term perhaps originated as "skid road" in reference to logging in the late 1800's, especially in the Pacific Northwest,  I find an almost total lack of that term, "skid road," used from 1880-1931 in searches using ProQuest and Newspaperarchive.  At least, in reference to the poor section of town.  

Why wouldn't we find this term "skid road," referring to a poor section of town, available more freely in newspaper stories?  

Sam Clements

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