The Broncks', the borough of my childhood, fades away

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Mon Dec 3 20:46:42 UTC 2007


On Dec 3, 2007, at 12:05 PM, Joel Berson wrote:

> Well, it's happening.  In the Boston Globe today (Dec. 3), in the
> article "Lone 'boy' on campus", by Keith O'Brien (B1), about the only
> male attending Wellesley College this fall, O'Brien writes
> "[Mohammad] Usman, who grew up in Bronx, N.Y., has come to Wellesley
> on a semester-long exchange program."
>
> Safire would be distressed -- as I am.

regrettably large number of hits for {"in Bronx NY"}, not to mention
in other contexts.

i've said on Language Log that familiarity tends to breed
anarthrousness.  in this case, i suspect that unfamiliarity is
breeding anarthrousness.

arnold

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