RI cabinet was: Re: non-coda r-loss

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri Jun 19 20:45:40 UTC 2009


At 11:34 AM -0400 6/19/09, Amy West wrote:
>>Date:    Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:20:10 -0400
>>From:    Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>Subject: Re: Non-coda r-loss in Southern speech?
>>
>>At 5:40 AM -0400 6/18/09, Bill Palmer wrote:
>>  >
>>>I was always taken with the unusual names for various beverages in Boston:
>>>
>>>Soda = "tonic"
>>>Ice cream soda = "cabinet"
>>
>>>From what I've read and seen, "cabinet" is
>>largely if not entirely restricted to Rhode
>>Island, while I have encountered "tonic" in
>>Boston (for 'soft drink') and "frappe" in both
>>Mass. and R.I.
>>
>>LH
>
>You are correct about "cabinet", though it also creeps into the areas
>of CT and MA that border RI. But I believe "cabinet" is also a
>milkshake term.
>
Yes, it's used for both milkshakes and ice cream sodas.  "Coffee
cabinets" were available in a shop I visited in Waverly, RI (just
over the CT line), but I can't remember whether it was a milk shake
or an ice cream soda (with coffee syrup and coffee ice cream).

LH

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