Lockjaw: Locust Valley (1965), Long Island (1972), Larchmont (1973)
Garson O'Toole
adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Mon Jun 13 07:27:51 UTC 2011
Here are some more examples of word lockjaw used in the description of
a voice or a manner of speech in 1971 and earlier:
In 1953 the prominent critic George Jean Nathan described the speech
pattern of the famous siren Mae West by saying that her lines sounded
"as if she had lockjaw".
Cite: 1953, The Theatre in the Fifties by George Jean Nathan, Page
230, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. (Internet Archive at archive.org)
The only thing routine about her is her routine, which nevertheless
fetches me just as much today as it did years ago when first she
projected a saucy hip, screwed up her nose as if it scented a herring
cannery, executed the hissing drawl that sounds as if she had lockjaw,
and leered suggestively at the customers as if they one and all,
including myself, were as inflammatory and desirable as Rudolph
Valentino.
http://www.archive.org/stream/theatreinthefift006945mbp#page/n243/mode/1up
In 1966 (according to the sometimes accurate Google Books database) an
issue of Esquire contained an article that discussed "Paulies". Based
on extracted text "Paulies" were students who attended St. Paul's
School, a college preparatory school. The article claimed that some
"Paulies" had a "lockjaw accent".
Cite: Esquire magazine, GB date 1966, Issue unknown, Volume 65, Page
92. (Google Books unverified; incomplete snippet; date probes ok)
With attitudes like these it is not difficult to understand how
Paulies have won for themselves the distinction of being known as
Ultimate Preppies. ... Enough speak with "this lockjaw accent" (a
curious amalgam of Yankee and Southern inflections blended by a thick
Gladstonian cadence and often accompanied by sudden, effeminate hand
gestures that can give a phrase the exaggerated emphasis of triple
italics — "Moy Gawd, the flick's just filthy").
http://books.google.com/books?id=-DxXAAAAYAAJ&q=lockjaw#search_anchor
In 1967 (according to GB) an issue of Town & Country contained a
relevant instance of lockjaw. The OCR is terrible, but it looks like
the match is for the phrase "Philadelphia lockjaw" which fits with the
later use of the term "main line" within the article
Cite: Town & Country magazine, GB date 1967, Page 60, Volume 120,
Issue 4535. (Google Books unverified; snippet defective; date probes
look good)
Rule Five: Take pains t» ii> your accent. The ideal is PI phia
Lockjaw, a distinctive inflections and cadences p«u the Main Line but
susceptil simulation. It is rather stt: and undramatic, so you will m
offset this a bit.
http://books.google.com/books?id=TBNUAAAAYAAJ&q=lockjaw#search_anchor
In 1968 (according to GB) a book about the American social
establishment referred to "Main Line lockjaw".
Cite: GB 1968, The Right People: A Portrait of the American Social
Establishment by Stephen Birmingham, Little Brown and Company, Boston.
(Google Books unverified, Probe shows copyright date of 1968)
As for the accent, Barbara Best calls it "Philadelphia paralysis," or
"Main Line lockjaw," pointing out that it is not unlike "Massachusetts
malocclusion."
http://books.google.com/books?id=Sg2xAAAAIAAJ&q=lockjaw#search_anchor
In September 1971 an article in New York Magazine said that the
comedian Lenny Bruce could imitate a "New England lockjaw accent".
Cite: 1971 September 6, New York Magazine, Tonight at the Blue Angel:
Lenny Bruce by Albert Goldman from the journalism of Lawrence
Schiller, Page 46, Column 1, Volume 4, Number 36, Published by New
York Media, LLC. (Google Books full view)
The way he puts on that New England lockjaw accent! Phew! When it
comes to doing fags, Lenny Bruce is John Gielgud.
http://books.google.com/books?id=_eICAAAAMBAJ&q=lockjaw#v=snippet&
In 1971 (according to GB) Newsweek magazine described Katharine
Hepburn's speaking style as "patrician-lockjaw voice."
Cite: GB 1971, Newsweek, Volume 78, GB Page 407 (Page number must be
wrong.) (Google Books unverified, Volume ok, date probes ok)
It did sound very much like Katharine Hepburn, however — at least to
Kate herself, who was not amused by what she considered an intolerable
mimicry of her own patrician-lockjaw voice.
http://books.google.com/books?id=XtEmAQAAIAAJ&q=lockjaw#search_anchor
Lastly, at no additional cost: two bonus citations for entertainment
and edification:
In September 1948 Billboard magazine used the phrase "lockjaw
voice-throwing" in the description of a vaudeville act. The phrase
apparently referred to ventriloquism.
Cite: 1946 September 28, Billboard, Vaudeville Reviews, Loew's State,
New York, Page 42, Column 2, Published by Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
(Google Books full view)
Top mitt-puller was Rex Weber's legit singing and voice-throwing
routines. As a straight singer, the short chunky guy showed a terrific
set of pipes. ... Working with his wife, Lee Leonard, Weber's lockjaw
voice-throwing brought gasps of surprise. Weber's blond toupee helps a
lot.
http://books.google.com/books?id=LRoEAAAAMBAJ&q=lockjaw#v=snippet&
In 1936 (according to GB) the author and critic Graham Greene used the
word lockjaw while lambasting an actor's performance.
Cite: GB 1936, The Spectator, GB Page 1037, Volume 157. (Google Books
unverified; date probes look good)
The credit is all Mr. Hurst's, for the dialogue is stagy, and the
principal actor, Mr. John Lodge, continues to suffer from a kind of
lockjaw, an inability to move the tight muscles of his mouth, to do
anything but glare with the dumbness and glossiness of an injured
seal. Graham Greene.
http://books.google.com/books?id=4NkhAQAAMAAJ&q=lockjaw#search_anchor
Garson
On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 8:25 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Lockjaw: Locust Valley (1965), Long Island (1972), Larchmont
> (1973)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I decided to search the official magazine of the lockjaw crowd, The New
> Yorker.
>
> I found the phrase "lockjaw euphemism' -- "("Cunningham lives alone," says
> Synopsis, "and hires women regularly to function with him," which is the
> most striking piece of lockjaw euphemism since last Tuesday.)" -- June 7,
> 1969
>
> Nothing earlier.
> DanG
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 11:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Re: Lockjaw: Locust Valley (1965), Long Island (1972),
>> Larchmont
>> (1973)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> What the hell is "Manhattan Pentameter"?
>>
>> IAC, I am delighted to learn that I've been speaking blank verse all my
>> life....
>>
>> Additional two cents: I'm very skeptical of Espy's attribution of the
>> phrase
>> "Larchmont lockjaw" to the "early 1930s." It simply does not have a '30s
>> feel - and the 40-year lag in documentation would be hard to explain for so
>> colorful a language-related term.
>>
>> On the other hand, hardly anyone uses any of these phrases; so if their
>> currency had been limited to a bare handful of locals, they could go back
>> indefinitely.
>>
>> JL
>> On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 8:55 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject: Re: Lockjaw: Locust Valley (1965), Long Island (1972),
>> > Larchmont
>> > (1973)
>> >
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > I would have expected this to be older.
>> >
>> > From A William Safire article on Locust Valley lockjaw in 1987:
>> >
>> >
>> http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/18/magazine/on-language.html?scp=1&sq=lockjaw&st=cse
>> >
>> > Willard Espy, the wordsman whose most recent book is ''Words to Rhyme
>> With:
>> > A Rhyming Dictionary,'' recalls, ''In the early 1930's, the expression
>> > Larchmont lockjaw was generally restricted to certain upper-class females
>> > from Westchester County, and the affliction was presumably the fault of
>> the
>> > schools they attended.''
>> >
>> > DanG
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 7:37 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: Lockjaw: Locust Valley (1965), Long Island (1972),
>> > Larchmont
>> > > (1973)
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >
>> > > 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/
>> > >
>> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> > >
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > 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."
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>
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