William Safire on the kitchen sink

[Wilson Gray]

In Wisconsin, is every sink called a "zinc" (or "zink") or just the
kitchen "zinc"? If it's the former, I'd tend to believe the "Dutch
ancestry" explanation. Otherwise, I have no clue, since the closest
that I've been to Wisconsin is "That '70's Show" ("Hello,
Wisconsin!"). My father went to Madison, but that experience had no
particular impact on his  "Alabama brogue," as he termed his native
dialect.

My grandmother was the last of the dialect Mohicans, since the "zinc"
pronunciation died with her. All living members of my family say
"(kitchen) sink," including my 97-y.o mother, a daughter of said
grandmother.

-Wilson

On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 2:56 PM, Joseph Salmons <jsalmons at wisc.edu> wrote:
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>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Joseph Salmons <jsalmons at WISC.EDU>
>  Subject:      Re: William Safire on the kitchen sink
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Interesting. I don't recall that pronunciation from the south or
>  Texas, but the z-ful pronunciation of 'sink' is well known in
>  Wisconsin, where it's popularly associated with people of Dutch
>  ancestry. (I have no evidence on whether that's true or to what extent
>  it might be.)
>
>  Joe
>
>
>
>
>  On Mar 30, 2008, at 1:47 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>  > -----------------------
>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>  > Subject:      William Safire on the kitchen sink
>  > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >
>  > In his article on the kitchen sink in today's NYT Mag, Safire notes
>  > that the kitchen sink was once an object made of a "sheet of _zinc_
>  > over wood ..."
>  >
>  > Perhaps this is the reason that my late, East-Texas-born grandmother
>  > always referred to our kitchen sink, which differed in no way from the
>  > usual enameled kitchen sink standard in houses built back in the day,
>  > as "the _zinc_," though she referred to the bathroom sink only as "the
>  > _sink_."
>  >
>  > -Wilson
>  >
>  > --
>  > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>  > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>  > -----
>  > -Sam'l Clemens
>  >
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org