End of ADS-L Digest - 15 Apr 1994 to 16 Apr 1994

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There are 3 messages totalling 125 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. ink pen, basement (2)

 2. Loss of /th/ vs assimilation of /ng/ in <lengths>



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Date:  Sun, 17 Apr 1994 10:14:00 EDT

From:  "David A. Johns" <DJOHNS[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UFPINE.BITNET>

Subject: ink pen, basement



[Natalie Maynor <maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU>]



# This discussion of "ink pen," a term I tend to associate with my

# elementary school days long ago (early '50s), has reminded me of

# the use of "basement" for a school restroom. Was that term used

# all over the U.S., or was it Southern? Presumably it got started

# from having restrooms in basements, but the term was used in my

# generation when restrooms were not in basements.

# --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)



"Can I go to the basement?" was the normal request when I was in

school in the 50s, in western Massachusetts. In my elementary school

-- um, grammar school -- the bathrooms *were* in the basement. In

high school they weren't, but I'm sure we still used the same word.



[THOMAS L CLARK <tlc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NEVADA.EDU>]



#  I recall using ball-point as an adolescent (from [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] seventh

# grade), but am pretty sure I never used "fountain" for fountain

# pen. After about the sixth grade, we weren't allowed to have

# fountain pens (1947 or 48). WWII had pretty much made the

# ball-point ubiquitous. This was in Montana.

# Cheers,

# tlc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nevada.edu



Interesting. In my high school, ten years later, we still weren't

allowed to use ballpoints at all. It was probably the doing of the

local clothing merchants, who got to replace all the shirts ruined by

leaking fountain pens.



Also on INK PEN: I have yet to hear that term here in South

Georgia, even though it is definitely "pin = pen" territory. I get

lots of misspellings like SENSE for SINCE, and my favorite, I'D GO TO

ANY LINKS TO ..."



In determining rules for in-class compositions, my students always

seem to ask whether they should write IN INK or IN PENCIL.



David Johns

Waycross College

Waycross, GA