[Ads-l] pond

[Wilson Gray]

Looking at this from across the racial divide, I'd like to point out
that I know Nimrod only as a mighty hunter before the Lord and that
I'd be very surprised to find a colored person of my generation who
was unaware that _across the pond_ means, "across the Atlantic Ocean"
and that it has meant that since the end of WWII, when the former
United States Colored Troops came back from across the pond with their
"ruptured ducks*."

*In fact, I know this term only as a consequence of having read about
its use in the Saturday Evening Post, Reader's Digest, LIFE, or
somewhere 'nother.
On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 12:59 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The article on “nimrod” on World Wide Words (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-nim1.htm <http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-nim1.htm>) cited in today’s nimrod thread starts off with:
>
> ——
> From Barbara Murray, Wisconsin: Oxford Dictionaries online defines nimrod in UK English as a “skilful hunter” and, across the pond where I reside, as an “inept person”.
> ——
>
> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pond <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pond>): (colloquial) The Atlantic Ocean.
>
> Mac Dictionary: (humorous) the Atlantic Ocean.
>
> The English OLD does not have “Atlantic Ocean” in its “pond” entry (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pond <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pond>) but does have “transpontine” (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/transpontine <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/transpontine>).
>
> Merriam-Webster seems to have a relevant usage but without a corresponding definition (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pond <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pond>): They moved here from across the pond.
>
> Particularly given that this term is not well known in the US, this definition is important. It is probably not too difficult to find citations that are neither colloquial nor humorous (perhaps the citations below).
>
> From the ADS archives:
>
> 1997
> Barry Popik has an undated citation (http://www.americandialect.org/americandialectarchives/mar97.txt <http://www.americandialect.org/americandialectarchives/mar97.txt>)
>
> March 2001
> Mark Mandel discusses transpontine and the Pond (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2001-March/014045.html <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2001-March/014045.html>)
>
> August 2001
> Joel Berson states Herring Pond for Atlantic Ocean is found in 1686 (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-August/111742.html <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-August/111742.html>)
>
> 2003
> Dennis Preston uses the term (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2003-October/034418.html <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2003-October/034418.html>)
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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

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