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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting topic Fred, Ben, and Jesse. Good work finding excellent citations.
Crime fiction author Ross Macdonald (pseudonym of Kenneth Millar) used
the phrase "lockjaw voice" in 1959, but the voice was menacing instead
of upper class.

Year: 1959
Book Title: The Galton Case
Author: Ross Macdonald
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Database: Internet Archive
Quote Page 144

[Begin excerpt]
"I dunno." He spread his hands. They had a tremor running through
them, like dry twigs in a wind. "Honest."
"You know, Farnsworth," I said in my menacing new lockjaw voice, "I'll
give you five seconds to tell me."
[End excerpt]

The phrase "Long Island lockjaw" occurred twice in a 1968 novel
(antedating 1972).

Date: 1968 Copyright (Cross-check: The book is reviewed in May 11,
1968 Newsday, Nassau Edition)
Book Title: The Shoplifter
Author: Richard H. R. Smithies
Publisher: Horizon Press, New York
Database: Internet Archive

Quote Page 38
[Begin excerpt]
"It's possible. She imitated the voice for me. Aside from the fact
that it was nervous, it sounded like a typical cultivated Gawds-Mummy
accent." Mrs. Pride gave her a chilly stare.
"It's also known as Long Island lockjaw," said Kent.
[End excerpt]

Quote Page 224
[Begin excerpt]
Kent shook his head. "Not quite. Keep your teeth together and get the
voice further back in your throat. The essence of the Long Island
lockjaw effect is the effort it takes to drag the words up from the
depths."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Oct 5, 2024 at 10:44 AM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>
> 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

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