[Ads-l] Straphanger (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED



> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Dan Goncharoff
> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2016 12:26 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Straphanger (UNCLASSIFIED)
> 
> 
> 
> ----
> 
> 1892 is still 12 years before the opening of the subway. Still likely a train or trolley, not a subway or bus.

Here is the article:
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014635/1892-09-07/ed-1/seq-8/

It refers, specifically, to elevated trains.  From my reading it has the same sense as is normally understood -- a standing passenger holding to a strap to keep from falling while the train jerks around.  I could be wrong.

When I said "subway or bus" I wasn't trying to be exclusive of other forms of mass transit, and I wasn't quoting the OED.



> 
> I find it interesting that the term strap-hanger existed in the context of trains, as the leather strap used to hold the cord that a passenger
> pulled to indicate a desire to get off at the next stop.
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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