Date:  Tue, 11 Jul 1995 08:02:30 -0400

From:  ALICE FABER <faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HASKINS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 8 Jul 1995 to 10 Jul 1995



James Stalker:

>

> I wonder if this use of "can" is related to the use of "pail" in "lunch

> pail," the term we used as kids in Texas for what others call a "lunch

> kit," although somewhere I've heard the term "lunch bucket." Sour bologna

> was bad enough in a metal box with a latched lid. Taking lunch in an

> actual pail or bucket sounds somehow depressing. You could get a lot of

> food in a milk can, however.

>



Wayne Glowka:



Verrry interesting for a Texan to use a "pail."  Aren't Texans supposed to

fall within the old S. Midland group, hence bucket people rather than pail

people? In KY in the 50's lunch bucket was common, but only for grown-ups.

Kids used lunch boxes or bags. I guess some might have used the Shedd's peanut

butter buckets, but I don't remember any at Penile Elementary School.



******************************************************************************



Depends *where* in Texas...When I was in graduate school in Texas, the

informal surveys we did suggested that Texas is fairly well split. It's been a

while, but I recall that the real Southern/South Midlands features were only

found in East and North-east Texas (areas bordering on Arkansas, Louisiana).

>From San Antonio south through the Rio Grande Valley (and Mexican border), we

got a lot of pure northern forms; the port of Galveston was a big deal in the

19th century, with major connections with eastern and northeastern cities, as

well as Europe.



Myself, I've never heard of a lunch kit or a lunch bucket; lunch pail sounds

regional. We just had lunch boxes in suburban NY. I must have had a deprived

childhood. <grin>



Alice Faber

faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]haskins.yale.edu