Boys Town or Boy's Town or Boys' Town (Mexican brothels near Texas border)

Tue Aug 28 19:09:11 UTC 2007

An interesting phrase:  "about what all transpired there."  I used this
construction often as a kid but haven't heard it much lately: "What all did
you do there?"  "Where all did you go?" etc.  Is it still common, you
googlers?  (And BTW, I'm not sure how to google words: Do you use quote
marks or what all?)

Beverly (the other Flanigan)

At 01:54 PM 8/28/2007, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Boys Town or Boy's Town or Boys' Town (Mexican brothels near
>               Texas border)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Having grown up in Texas, by my late teenhood in the early 1960s I was
>certainly familiar with the less wholesome sense of the term "Boys' Town."
>To this day, I do a small double-take whenever I hear a reference to Fr.
>Flanagan's worthy insitution (although, knowing the things we now know, we
>may have questions about what all transpired THERE!).
>
>--Charlie
>_____________________________________________________________
>
>---- Original message ----
> >Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:16:08 -0400
> >From: Barry Popik <bapopik at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject: Boys Town or Boy's Town or Boys' Town (Mexican brothels near
> Texas border)
>
> >Anyone remember a "boys town"? Not in OED?
> >...
> >HDAS has "boys town" and it's "_Navy_, the junior officers' quarters on
> >shipboard"? How do you speak to the editor of HDAS and invite him to Texas?
> >...
> >...
> >
> >http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/boys_town_or_boys_town_zona=
> >_de_tolerancia_zona_roja_zona_rosa/
> >...
> >
> > Entry from August 28, 2007
> >Boy's Town or Boys Town (Zona de Tolerancia; Zona Roja; Zona Rosa)
> >
> >"Boy's Town" or "Boys Town" is a place in Mexico near the Texas border wher=
> >e
> >"boys" go to find "girls." These places of prostitution are also called
> >"Zona de Tolerancia" (Zone of Tolerance) and "Zona Roja" (Red Zone) and
> >"Zona Rosa" (Rose Zone or Pink Zone). The term was popular by at least the
> >1950s.
> >
> >The term has nothing to do with the Boys Town (now Girls and Boys Town) in
> >Nebraska that was founded by Edward J. Flanagan in the 1920s for at-risk
> >children. However, it is possible that the prostitution sense borrowed from
> >this established term.
> >
> >
> >Wikipedia: Boy's
> >Town<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy%27s_Town%2C_prostitution>
> >*Boy's Towns*, also known as *Zonas de Tolerancia*, *Zonas Rojas* or *Zonas
> >Rosas*, are formally designated zones within several Mexican cities where
> >legalized prostitution exists. These normally walled compounds, most of
> >which are located along the U.S.-Mexico border, operate as red light
> >districts. Notorious Boy's Towns are located in Ciudad Acu=F1a, Nuevo Lared=
> >o,
> >Piedras Negras, and Reynosa.
> >
> >Wikipedia: Girls and Boys
> >Town<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_and_Boys_Town>
> >*Girls and Boys Town*, formerly *Boys Town* and *Father Flanagan's Boys'
> >Home*, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the care of at-risk
> >children, with national headquarters in the village of Boys Town, Nebraska.
> >The property was listed as a National Historic Landmark on February 04,
> >1985.
> >
> >The original Boys Town was founded as a boys orphanage in 1921 by Edward J.
> >Flanagan, a Roman Catholic priest working in Omaha. The "City of Little Men=
> >"
> >pioneered development of new juvenile care methods in 20th century America,
> >emphasizing social preparation as a model for public boys' homes worldwide.
> >
> >
> >20 December 1957, Brownsville (TX) *Herald*, "U.S. Ambassador To Probe
> >Matamoros Vice Industry," pg. 1, col. 2:
> >Recurrent rumors in this area frequently refer to a section of Matamoros
> >known as "Boys Town" where Mexican officials are reported to take a somewha=
> >t
> >easy-going attitude toward prostitution.
> >
> >9 March 1961, Corpus Christi (TX) *Times*, "Reynosa: Old, New Mingle in 'Si=
> >n
> >City'" by B. F. Kellum, pg. 18:
> >Just about everyone on both sides of the Rio Grande agrees most tourists wh=
> >o
> >get into trouble do so because they wander about a mile west of the
> >international bridge to "Boys Town," a sprawling community of neon signs,
> >cantinas, dope pushers and prostitutes.
> >
> >Conservative estimates place the number of prostitutes in "Boys Town" at
> >800, ranging from 14 years up.
> >
> >Prostitution is legal and government-regulated in Mexico. The girls even
> >have a sort of social security that pays them a few pesos a day when they
> >are unable to work.
> >
> >The tourist usually gets cheated=97but most expect it when they venture int=
> >o
> >this town-within-a-town.
> >
> >24 June 1977, San Antonio *Light*, "Prostitutes Protest In Nuevo Laredo,"
> >pg. 8A:
> >NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (UPI) Protesting prostitutes are complaining city
> >officials are allowing harlots to work in the normally off-limits downtown
> >area, and they want the mayor to put a stop to the practice.
> >(...)
> >"Mr. Mayor. We believe everything has a place: You in your office and
> >prostitutes in the red light district," said one sign carried by the group
> >of prostitutes who were joined in the protest march by waiters and the
> >owners of eight nightclubs in the "Zone of Tolerance," which Americans refe=
> >r
> >to as "Boy's Town."
> >
> >Mexican law permits prostitution in supervised zones located away from the
> >city. The prostitutes are required to register and undergo periodic medical
> >examinations.
> >
> >1 May 1990, *Pacific Stars and Stripes* (Tokyo, Japan), "Border town
> >brothels still lure Americans," pg. 7:
> >CIUDAD ACUNA, Mexico (AP)=97In a handful of cities on the Mexican border,
> >American men still throng to the brothels of "boys' towns," legal
> >prostitution zones little changed by fear of sexual disease or campaigns fo=
> >r
> >more wholesome tourism.
> >
> >At least five Mexican border cities have flourishing boys' towns, and thoug=
> >h
> >some have been moved away from central tourist districts, they remain
> >popular attractions for businessmen, hunters and teen-agers.
> >
> >They're accepted with little controversy, although Texas' Republican
> >gubernatorial candidate, Clayton Williams, drew heat after admitting
> >recently that he frequented border brothels during his college years more
> >than 30 years ago because they were the only place to get "serviced."
> >
> >Visiting the prostitutes, Williams said, was just "part of growing up in
> >West Texas."
> >(...)
> >OUTSIDE along the dusty streets of boys' town=97also known as La Zona de
> >Tolerancia or Zone of Tolerance=97scattered groups of men from nearby Air
> >Force installations, teen-agers and other Americans wander to bars like the
> >Rio Club and La Camelia.
> >
> >3 November 1981, Frederick (MD) *Post*, "Maverick mayor: 'Jorge is the
> >change,'" pg. B4, col. 1:
> >MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP)=97A radio station owner with a grandfatherly face, a
> >handlebar mustache and an easy smile is turning this border city upside dow=
> >n
> >with his maverick brand of populist politics.
> >
> >Since taking office Jan. 1, Mayor Jorge Cardenas Gonzalez has closed
> >cantinas on Sundays, donated his $12,000 salary to illuminate crime-plagued
> >neighborhoods and told barkeeps in the infamous "Boys' Town" redlight
> >district to move out or shut down.
> >(...)
> >Shootings and knifings within the "zona roja" have alarmed the surrounding
> >residential areas.
> >
> >"We're going to run a socially moral city, that is my aim," he said.
> >
> >(Trademark)
> >Word Mark BOYS TOWN TIMES
> >Goods and Services (EXPIRED) IC 016. US 038. G & S: SEMI-MONTHLY NEWSPAPER
> >PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE HOMELESS BOY. FIRST USE: 19381024. FIRST
> >USE IN COMMERCE: 19381024
> >Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
> >Serial Number 71449479
> >Filing Date December 15, 1941
> >Current Filing Basis 1A
> >Original Filing Basis 1A
> >Registration Number 0398772
> >Registration Date November 24, 1942
> >Owner (LAST LISTED OWNER) FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME UNKNOWN BOYS TOWN,
> >NEBR.
> >Type of Mark TRADEMARK
> >Register PRINCIPAL
> >Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
> >
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>
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