Lockjaw: Locust Valley (1965), Long Island (1972), Larchmont (1973)

[Ben Zimmer]

When I looked into these expressions in 2005, I found "Locust Valley
lockjaw" from 1970, "Long Island lockjaw" from 1977, and "Larchmont
lockjaw" from 1986:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0502A&L=ADS-L&P=R4067

Earlier cites from Google Books (snippet view, but they all look legit):

* Locust Valley lockjaw
Noel Parmentel, "John Lindsay - Less Than Meets the Eye," _Esquire_,
Oct. 1965, p. 156
He is as oblivious to the high gloss as he is to the Locust Valley
Lockjaw spoken by so many of his peers.

* Long Island lockjaw
Hercules Molloy, _Oedipus in Disneyland_, 1972, p. 66
He could detect Long Island Lockjaw across the room and distinguish it
instantly from Manhattan Pentameter (an onomatopoeia).

* Larchmont lockjaw
Marcia Seligson, _The Eternal Bliss Machine: America's Way of
Wedding_, 1973, p. 185
But the voice changes that image, with a uniquely cultivated way of
speaking that someone once labeled "Larchmont Lockjaw" because it
emerges from a mouth that looks to be frozen into an unmoving smile
and teeth that seem clenched together for dear life.


--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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