"lead-pipe cinch" (antedating to 1888 July 29)

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/12/2010 12:00 PM, George Thompson wrote:
> >
> > During the period in question, I think much routine plumbing could be
> > done either with (various types of) iron pipe or with (more expensive
> > and durable) lead.
> >
>
>When NYC was first supplied with reservoir water, ca. 1840s, the
>newspapers warned builders not to use lead pipes to carry the Croton
>water; good advice, and no doubt followed. The neurological damage
>done by exposure to lead was recognized, if not understood.

The alleged cause of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. And
the dangers of lead water pipes were recognized millenia before 1842
(See, e.g., Wikipedia, "Lead Poisoning", "History".)

>I believe that lead pipes could be coated with tin, or some other
>metal, to avoid this.

And it would not be a problem with waste pipes.

Joel


>GAT
>
>George A. Thompson
>Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
>Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
>Date: Sunday, July 11, 2010 6:47 pm
>Subject: Re: "lead-pipe cinch" (antedating to 1888 July 29)
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> > On brief glance at the usual archives, I note (e.g.) "cast iron
> > certainty" from 1869. Easy to account for that as a metaphor, I suppose.
> >
> > By comparison, along with "lead pipe cinch", I see "cast iron cinch"
> > from 1892, "iron pipe cinch" from 1899.
> >
> > Are these just blends? Maybe. Or maybe "iron" actually preceded "lead".
> >
> > "Iron" would provide a more obvious metaphor, but it could have been
> > supplanted by "lead" on the basis "lead pipe is even better than iron"
> > or so.
> >
> > During the period in question, I think much routine plumbing could be
> > done either with (various types of) iron pipe or with (more expensive
> > and durable) lead.
> >
> > Somebody with bigger databases (or more cleverness) might be able to
> > support or refute such notions.
> >
> > Need that last volume of HDAS.
> >
> > -- Doug Wilson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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