Date:    Fri, 22 May 1998 01:12:38 -0500
<br>From:    Mike Salovesh <t20mxs1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CORN.CSO.NIU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: -hop & car-hopping
<br>
<br>Yongwei Gao wrote:
<br>>
<br>> Dear all,
<br>>
<br>> I am doing topic-hopping, the frequent switching of topics. The nonce
<br>> word is patterned after bed-hop, channel-hop, club-hop, car-hop and many
<br>> others. Of the definitions for car-hopping, I am most puzzled: as
<br>> bed-hop means  to engage in promiscuous sexual relationships ,
<br>> car-hopping should be something like  the frequent change of automobiles
<br>> during a trip . However, I have so far collected three alternatives:
<br>
<br>                <<snip because we all read it>>
<br>
<br>Fourth possibility: an alternative to "car hiker", "parking attendant",
<br>and other terms for someone (frequently at highly popular, expensive
<br>restaurants) who helps a customer out of a car, then drives the car to a
<br>nearby parking place, and retrieves it at the customer's request.  I
<br>know that this is non-standard, but I have seen this usage on signs
<br>posted in front of some Chicago restaurants.  (The last one I remember
<br>was in a heavily restauranted area known locally as "Greek Town".)
<br>
<br>Another set of alternative terms for people so employed is used after
<br>the car is returned in worse condition than when it was taken away.
<br>Those terms are usually regarded as vulgar, if not downright indecent.
<br>
<br>The worst names used for  those who  do this job are reserved for a few
<br>weeks or months after they have performed their service in a manner well
<br>known in upscale neighborhoods in Chicago.  That's when the city goes
<br>after the car's owner to press charges for an unpaid ticket for a
<br>parking violation the owner never heard of, because the one who took the
<br>car and parked it illegally destroyed the ticket before returning the
<br>car.
<br>
<br>--  mike salovesh                               <salovesh[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]niu.edu>
<br>    anthropology department
<br>    northern illinois university                     PEACE !!!
<br>