"Bold Language"

[Dan Goodman]

Robin Hamilton wrote:
>> Eoin C. Bairéad wrote:
>>
>>> Is 'bold' meaning 'naughty' now standard in American English?

>>> Note that New York Times house style is not the same as standard American English.  For example, the Times uses "string beans" while "green beans"
>>> seems to be displacing that term.  "String beans" is standard in NYC.
>>>
>>>
>
> I always assumed this was a US/UK distinction, Dylan sounding quite exotic
> to my Scottish ear when in the sixties he sang, "Give me a string bean, I'm
> a hungry man" -- somehow, "Give me a green bean" doesn't have quite the same
> resonance.
>
I'm told that "string bean" used to be standard in the Twin Cities.
(And I notice that when I say "string beans," people who've grown up
here usually understand me.)    Bob Dylan is from Outstate Minnesota, so
it's likely that the term was used when and where he grew up.

Two areas of the same US state can speak as differently as Aberdeen and
Glasgow, though that's an extreme case.

--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
Journal dsgood.dreamwidth.org (livejournal.com, insanejournal.com)

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