Chicago talk

[Wilson Gray]

In Saint Louis, a "six-flat" would be a "six-family flat." It was also
the case that such a residential building had individual doors for all
floors on two sides, with the numbering, 4609a, 4609b, 4609c Street
Name; 4611a, 4611b, 4611c Street Name. In the Boston area, such a
building is still called a "triple-decker," with two entrances on each
side: 82 Street Name, 84 street Name 1,2; 86 Street Name, 88 Street
Name 1,2. Sometimes, in the Boston area, the numbering will read
"86a," etc. In Saint Louis, if such a building had only a single
entrance and the simple address-type, 4912 Street Name, it was called
an "apartment building."

I'm talking about the Saint Louis of my lost childhood, During The
War. When I last visited there, my old 'hood consisted essentially
only of empty lots. Even the basements had been filled in, so that
only my memory told me that Millie and her damned dog had once lived
here, that Johnny had once lived there, and that Colored Johnny had
lived yonder.

-Wilson

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 12:51 PM, Paul <paulzjoh at mtnhome.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Paul <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Chicago talk
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My experience growing up in Chicago was that flat was used as an
> alternative to apartment, a six flat was usually a three story building
> with two apartments to the floor. The use of 12 or 24 flat was not
> unusual in my memory.
> My guess is flat is shorter than apartment and "six flat" is faster to
> say than "six apartment building"
> Never heard a home referred to as a flat. In other words, I could live
> in a six flat, but I rented an apartment.
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
>> Heard on a Cold Case Files - a true-crimes, trash-TV show - episode
>> that occurred in Chicago:
>>
>> _Three-flat_  : the kind of house known in Saint Louis as a
>> "three-family flat" and in Boston as a "triple-decker"
>>
>> _Gangway_  : a narrow passageway, three to eight feet wide or so,
>> between two houses or any other two buildings, leading from the front
>> to the back of the building to the left. The same term with the same
>> meaning is used in Saint Louis.
>>
>> _Decade_    : pronounced as though spelled "dekkid." This is the only
>> pronunciation that I ever heard or used in Saint Louis. I have no clue
>> as to how common this pronunciation may be in Chicago.
>>
>> -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.
>> –Mark Twain
>>
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>>
>>
>
> --
> "Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
>        George Washington, Farewell Address
>
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--
-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.
–Mark Twain

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