[Ads-l] Early WOTY Contender: Snow Farm

[Laurence Horn]

> On Mar 1, 2015, at 7:45 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
> 
> If the 2015 word of the year vote were held tomorrow, "snow farm" would probably be a strong contender, although no doubt it will be forgotten by January 2016, unless that is a similarly snowy winter.  The term apparently originates in the Boston area and refers to a lot where snow from highways, etc., is stored until it melts, whether through natural processes or artificial means.  
> 
> The earliest example I see is from the Channel 2 News on WESH-TV (NBC) in, implausibly, Orlando, Florida, Jan. 1, 2011 (via NewsBank):  "In Boston, open lots and park spacer are now designated snow farm.  We have a lot of snow we have to put it some place.  We are fortunate enough to identify some lots of land that we can put it in."
> 
> The term seems to have first become popular in 2011, for some value of popular; NewsBank has 20 references to "snow farm" from February 2011, all in or in reference to Massachusetts.  Of course, there are far more 2015 references.  A 2/26/2015 story in the Christian Science Monitor discusses the term and concludes that it is appropriate, noting that "farm" originally meant a solid business arrangement and only later came to mean something growing out of the earth.
> 
> 
...and in this case the crop is certainly thriving, making the term especially appropriate.

LH

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