Chicago talk

[Tom Zurinskas]

I would have said the term "flat" for an apartment was not a USA term, having only heard it on UK media.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+ 
see truespel.com phonetic spelling

 
> Date: Sat, 7 Nov 2009 23:31:27 -0500
> From: hwgray at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Chicago talk
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Chicago talk
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 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:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > 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
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >>
> >
> > --
> > "Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
> > George Washington, Farewell Address
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> -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
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
                                          
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