Date:  Sun, 17 Apr 1994 13:38:35 -0500

From:  Christina E Ogburn <ogburce[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.AUBURN.EDU>

Subject: Re: ink pen, basement



I have lived in Delaware and Alabama and I have never used the term "ink

pen," however, I have heard older (70's and up) people from Alabama use

it. Also, in both places we (the students) asked whether assignments

should be "in ink."



As for basement, I have always used it to mean the storage area under the

house. Although I use that term, I rarely use it because most houses in

Alabama do not have basements. When I lived in Delaware, most of the

houses did.



On Sun, 17 Apr 1994, David A. Johns wrote:



> [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

>