"The stroll"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I meant, of course, the HDAS secret vaults.

JL


On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 9:18 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Joel is right. HDAS has "stroll," n. (in print) only from the '50s or '60s.
>
> Earlier nominal usage (and not very frequent in print) was the more or
> less standard "beat," though the 1796 ex. is an unusually valuable early
> one for the idiomatic phrase, _on the stroll,_ 'seeking customers as a
> streetwalker.'
>
> JL
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 8:14 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: "The stroll"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Mr. Doe (and I'm grateful that you're not signing
>> your messages "John"), if I understand the
>> original question correctly, Donald McCaig is
>> asking about "the stroll" meaning a place.  Your
>> find, while very useful, I think has the sense of an action.
>>
>> A facetious comment -- perhaps "the stroll"
>> undertook the sense of a place when "the Mall"
>> became common usage?  (The OED tells me in the 1660s or 1670s.)
>>
>> Joel
>>
>> At 12/25/2013 08:31 PM, John Doe wrote:
>>
>> >It's been in use for centuries. And a prostitute doesn't simply stand
>> >there. She literally strolls up and down, so as to show off the goods,
>> >displaying herself to potential clients who want to "dig that action,"
>> i.e,
>> >see the movement of her lower body as she walks.
>> >
>> >An Apology for the Bible: In a Series of Letters, Addressed ... - Pages
>> >99-100
>> >books.google.com/books?id=-NoMAAAAIAAJ
>> >Richard Watson - 1796 - Read - More editions
>> >"... Mary Magdelene ; she was a woman of a large acquaintance, and it was
>> >not an ill conjecture that she might be upon _the stroll_."...
>> >
>> >The quotes are in the original. The author is citing his correspondent.
>> >
>> >-Wilson
>> >
>> >
>> >On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 5:33 AM, Donald McCaig <mccaig at mgwnet.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > > -----------------------
>> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > > Poster:       Donald McCaig <mccaig at MGWNET.COM>
>> > > Subject:      "The stroll"
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >
>> > > Does anyone know when this became common parlance for a prostitute's
>> > > working corner?
>> > >
>> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >--
>> >-Wilson
>> >-----
>> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>> >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> >-Mark Twain
>> >
>> >------------------------------------------------------------
>> >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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