"dungarees"

[Jonathan Lighter]

My entire family back to my grandparents used this word - I'm tempted to say
exclusively.  In fact, I used to use it too.  That's three generations of
NYC natives, as far back as the 1890s.

U.S. naval and merchant sailors have worn "dungarees" at work (outside of
office jobs) since before the Civil War.  The coveralls that replaced the
two-piece work uniform are still called dungarees.

In fact, while "jeans" is now undoubtedly more common, I'm amazed at the
suggestion that most Americans may not know what "dungarees" are.

JL

On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 1:53 PM, Dan Goodman <dsgood at iphouse.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goodman <dsgood at IPHOUSE.COM>
> Subject:      "dungarees"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> With permission, from the blog of an Australian-born fiction writer:
>
> Dungarees
>
> I have an older character, who lives in upstate NY and has pretty much
> her whole life, who refers to jeans as "dungarees". I had her use that
> word after consulting with friends from upstate who remembered people of
> their grandparents' generation and older using that word. I have been
> challenged on this by someone who thought the word was Australian.
> Absolutely not.1
>
> I'm looking for more evidence than just my upstate New Yorker friends'
> say so. Thus far I've found this in wikipedia which lists the word as
> archaic for the New York City area. But am coming up blank on other
> supporting evidence.
>
> Can any of you help me?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
>    1. I suspect I'm going to cop that a lot with the Liar book—people
> assuming I've gotten things wrong—like having New Yorkers saying they're
> waiting "on line"—when, in fact, I've gotten it right, but they just
> don't happen to know some of the local New Yorker dialect. Many USians
> assume that all USians talk the same. So not true! [
> http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/02/02/dungarees/#comments
> --
> Dan Goodman
> "I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
> Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
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