"block" ~= street, and the OED?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Quite.

JL

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "block" ~= street, and the OED?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 8:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > In Vietnam-era writings, "back on the block" is frequently used to mean,
> > "back in the old (usu. inner-city) neighborhood."
> >
> > But "*get back to the block" sounds impossible to me.  It would have to
> be
> > "on."
>
> And let's not forget how Jennifer Lopez tried to stay true to her
> Bronx roots by proclaiming, "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got /
> I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block."
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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