[Ads-l] Language and children; flee/flea. Was: Antedating of Flea Market

[James A. Landau]

Three from my childhood:

1. In Cherokee Park in Louisville KY there is a spot known as "Hogan's Fountain" which has a wooden pavilion, which I always called "the boarding house at Grogan's Water Faucet".  

2.  There is an amusement park in Louisville called "Fontaine's Ferry", which until I was a teenager I thought was named "Fountain Fairy".

3.  Before I could read my parents read me a book about "Katie the Snowplow".  In the book were pictures of vehicles used by the Public Works Department, including a "half-ton truck".  At the time I was confused about the words "ton" and "pound", and while I could accept the existence of a "five-pound truck", a "half-pound truck" struck me as being too light to be possible.

    - Jim Landau


_____________________________________________________________
Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.

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