Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?

[Stephen Goranson]

Quoting Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>:

> Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>> At 10:28 AM 7/31/2007, you wrote:
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> On Jul 30, 2007, at 6:46 PM, Larry Horn wrote:
>>>
>>>> At 9:23 PM -0400 7/30/07, Alice Faber wrote:
>>>>> I was Lego-age in the 50's, and I don't recall having Legos alongside
>>>>> the Lincoln logs that I do remember fondly. But my cousins, who are
>>>>> about 5 years younger than I am, did have Legos. So I would guess
>>>>> that
>>>>> they became widespread in the early 60s. And, indeed, Google turns up
>>>>> the following page
>>>>> <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/lego.htm>, which
>>>>> says that
>>>>> Legos were introduced to the US in 1962, though they were around
>>>>> earlier
>>>>> in Denmark.
>>>>>
>>>> Hmmm.  That's consistent with my (non-)memory of Legos in the 1950's,
>>>> but not with Arnold's distinct memory of having played with them
>>>> "well over 50 years ago".  Maybe Arnold's set was smuggled in from
>>>> Europe, hidden between those copies of Lady Chatterley and Ulysses?
>>> maybe my memory is just wrong.  i might have projected the Legos back
>>> from my daughter's childhood to my own.  i don't recall any time when
>>> Legos were "new", so i might have re-worked my memory in such a way
>>> that they were always there.  that sort of thing happens a lot.  (as
>>> you all know, i am repeatedly distrustful of reports about linguistic
>>> usages from the past, when there's no documentation.  everybody's
>>> memories -- my own included -- about such things are notoriously
>>> undependable, and people can be absolutely certain of memories that
>>> are in fact significantly flawed.)
>>>
>>> arnold the unmemorious
>>>
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> But we DO remember Erector sets and Lincoln Logs, right, Arnold?!  Not to
>> mention plain old wooden blocks.
>>
>
> And tinkertoys...

And a set of white plastic interlocking bricks (the brand name eludes
me), which
in my experience (b. 1950) arrived before Lego(s).

Stephen

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