query: "sweet porbell"

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

    Moreover, French "poubelle" (= garbage can) derives from the name Poubelle. He was prefect of the Seine, and ordered the use of the garbage can Jan. 15, 1884, well after the U.S. Civil War.
 
    As for "sweet porbell," the solution almost certainly lies in the bad handwriting and perhaps bad spelling of the letter writer. I.e., "porbell" probably cannot be taken at face value.  As Doug Wilson has already pointed out, it would be good if the letter could be uploaded, so we can all judge for ourselves what's there.
 
Gerald Cohen

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From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Grant Barrett
Sent: Thu 7/26/2007 8:34 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: query: "sweet porbell"



On Jul 26, 2007, at 08:48, Marc Sacks wrote:

> All I could think of was the French "pourbelles"; "sortir les
> pourbelles"
> means to take out the trash.

Yeah, but the word is "poubelle." None of my French dictionaries show
a term of affection related to the word.

Grant Barrett

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