spa (grocery)

[victor steinbok]

I remember the Oxford Spa sign, although not the other one. It was an
oddity that I never reconciled, thinking of it as one of a kind.
Clearly it was not. BTW, I was not trying to contradict you in the
earlier message--just relating it to my personal experience. In fact,
I agree that the usage exists--somewhere--but I have never /heard/ it
expressed by a living Cantabrigian or other local--I've /seen/ the
Oxford Spa, but never quite connected it to what I heard in Vermont.
And I did not know about the soda fountain connection until I looked
it up today.

VS-)

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 3:48 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> Alice Faber wrote:
>>When I first moved to New Haven in the late 80s, there was a downtown
>>"greasy spoon" lunch counter called The College Spa.
>
> And Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>As for "spa", AHD4 doesn't have it either, but it does have a "regional
>>note" suggestion that in "Eastern New England" it means "soda fountain".
>
> Its "More word histories and mysteries" claims an origin from "soda
> fountain".  But the spas in Cambridge at least are not soda
> fountains, at least some of them.
>
>>In the 28 years that I've been living here (minus 6 years spent
>>elsewhere), I've never heard the expression. Maybe I haven't been paying
>>attention. I have heard spa==grocery store/corner store in Vermont, but
>>expressed by non-natives.
>
> Perhaps you haven't been paying attention, Victor, but I've been here
> a bit longer.  I can attest names of places as well as oral
> communication.  When I moved to Cambridge (Mass.) for school, there
> were two within 3 blocks of my dormitory:  the Montrose Spa, which
> still exists; and the Oxford Spa, which no longer exists but was one
> block from the "Love Story" laundromat.  (I wonder if Segal mentions the Spa.)
>
> Joel

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