Endangered specie (coinages)

[Larry Sheldon]

On 3/10/2012 1:46 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
(It turned out the $1,200 that Stanford president
> Donald Kennedy spend on an "Italian fruitwood commode" was for a chest of
> drawers, not a toilet.)

We had one that has been in my family for a long time--a daughter
rescued it when we were "downsizing" (no there is a member of the
euphemism class that could use some discussing if not recently done),

It was not really a "chest of drawers" but a rather specialized piece of
specific-purpose furniture.

It was not very tall--two feet, maybe.  It had a wide drawer at the top,
for storing the washbasin, perhaps a shaving brush and mug, and so
forth.  Down one side was one or more drawers for toiletries (what a
tangled web of euphemisms we weave) which had to do with making you face
and hair presentable.  The other side had a large space behind a door
for storage of the chamber pot which did in fact have an historical
connection to the "throne" in the "bath" room.

Joke lost to technological change:  What is it that a bed has two of?

> I spoke with him a bit about retronyms afterwards, and the first one that he
> recalled noticing was "natural grass" at the beginning of baseball's Astroturf
> era. "Acoustic guitar" was also in the first batch he provided Safire in 1980,
> along with "hard-cover book", "manual transmission", "fresh squeezed orange
> juice", and "stage play".

Interesting.

> Coverage of the NEH/DARE press conference here:
>
> http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/usa-dictionary-idUSL2E8E8DL720120308
> http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-03-09/news/bal-a-distinctively-american-dictionary-20120309_1_frederic-cassidy-oxford-english-dictionary-joan-houston-hall

Also interesting--reminded me of one of my favorite "regional" word
problems (which has nothing to do with high school algebra).

If you were thirsty and wanted a refreshing drink of cold carbonated
water with some sort of sweetened syrup in it, what would you ask for?

A soda?  A pop?  Where I grew up, a perfectly normal exchange might
sound like this:

Friend noting distress:  Would you like a coke?

Me:  Yes!  What have you got?

FND:  "Rootbeer" (or "Dad's"), "ginger ale", and "RC".

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