[Ads-l] Media request: Why are bank locations called branches?

[Salikoko S. Mufwene]

And how does one contact Janet Nguyen?

On 10/17/2023 4:56 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
> Dear ADS-L members,
>
> Today I received a request from Public radio reporter Janet
> Nguyen for insight as to why bank locations are called
> branches, and with her permission I am sharing her message
> with ads-l.
>
> Would anyone be able to help on this?  Any thoughts would be
> very gratefully received.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> P.S. Here are her two messages to me today:
>
> Hi Professor Cohen,
>
> This is Janet Nguyen, with Marketplace! I hope you have been doing
> well since we last spoke for the piece I wrote on the origins
> of the term check<https://www.marketplace.org/2022/08/05/check-please-but-wait-isnt-it-a-bill/>  . I am reaching out to you because I am writing another
> etymology-based piece, this time looking at why bank locations are
> called branches and whether any other businesses use that term
>   (of course, in politics, you have the judicial, legislative and executive
> branches).
>
> I was wondering if you have any insight into this, or know anyone who
> would be able to help. This will be for a written piece on our website,
>   set to be published this Friday. As always, any help would be greatly
>   appreciated. Thank you so much.
>
> Best,
>
> Janet
>
> [Brief follow up]:
>
>   ...And to add one note: I know that other operations also use
> the word branch, like libraries and the YMCA, so would love if
> anyone can either comment on: 1) Why banks are called branches
> 2) Why any organization with a headquarters and separate locations
>   call those non-headquarter locations branches.
>
> Best,
>
> Janet
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society -http://www.americandialect.org

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Salikoko S. Mufwenes-mufwene at uchicago.edu
The Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics and the College
Professor, Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity
Professor, Committee on Evolutionary Biology
Professor, Committee on the Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science
Professor, Committee on African Studies
Academic Director, the University of Chicago Center in Paris, Sept 2022- Aug 2023
University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
Department of Linguistics
1115 East 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
https://linguistics.uchicago.edu/salikoko-s-mufwene/
http://mufwene.uchicago.edu/
**********************************************************

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