[Ads-l] "Larchmont Lockjaw" Not in OED

[Jesse Sheidlower]

Also, while it's technically true that _Larchmont lockjaw_ is not in OED, OED _does_ have an entry for _lockjaw_ 'an accent or manner of speaking associated with the upper class of the north-eastern United States, characterized as lacking in movement of the mouth and jaw', which goes on to note "Usually _attributive_ or with modifier denoting a specific region, as *Locust Valley lockjaw, Long Island lockjaw,* etc." So I'd say that the OED entry does cover this, even if it doesn't specifically enumerate Larchmont as one of the regions in question.

The earliest cite is the 1965 _Esquire_ quote that Ben gave in his 2011 post.

Jesse Sheidlower

On Sat, Oct 05, 2024 at 10:38:06AM -0400, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> See also my 2011 post with citations for "Locust Valley lockjaw" (1965),
> "Long Island lockjaw" (1972), and "Larchmont lockjaw" (1973).
> 
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-June/110213.html
> 
> On Sat, Oct 5, 2024 at 8:20 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
> > "Larchmont Lockjaw," a term for a mid-Atlantic upper-class accent, is not
> > in the OED.  The earliest occurrence I have found is the following:
> >
> > 1973 St. Louis Post-Dispatch 17 June 4E (Newspapers.com)
> >
> > Raised in Central Park West and already speaking the kind of "Larchmont
> > Lockjaw" to which such hot house bred young women seem to be addicted.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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