[Ads-l] Early WOTY Contender: Snow Farm

[Joel S. Berson]

"Farming" originally meant leasing out a revenue-producing property 
or office to someone.  For example, an official would pay a sum in 
order to have the right to collect a fee, duty, tax, etc. and take a 
commission.  I have no knowledge of whether the lessors of the snow 
farm lands have charged a fee, but certainly the lessees (the state, 
cities, and towns) are not collecting any revenue from their farms!

Joel

Despite the Christian Science Monitor's conclusion that snow farms 
are "a solid business arrangement", I don't think anyone

At 3/1/2015 08:17 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> > 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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org