"shade-tree mechanic"

[Amy West]

OK, I'm coming to LH's defense (as if he needs it). . .

I'm a 43-year-old Northern female who has acted as a shade-tree
mechanic (used to do the oil changes, change the brake pads, and even
changed brake calipers on my Datsun), but had not heard the term
either until hearing it on Car Talk.

---Amy West

>Date:    Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:49:46 -0500
>From:    Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>Subject: Re: "shade-tree mechanic", not in (some) dictionaries
>
>On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 10:17 AM, Laurence Horn
><laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>>  At 8:13 AM -0500 2/25/09, Bill Palmer wrote:
>>>What is the issue?  The widespread use of the phrase?
>>>
>>>I have lived all over the US, and, in one circumstance or another, have
>>>heard the term very often.
>>
>>  I haven't lived an entirely sheltered life, having resided in and
>>  around NYC, upstate NY, MA, CA, MI, WI, and CT, and had never heard
>>  the term until encountering in the song noted below, which led me to
>  > suspect that there's a strong regional component to it.

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