Date:  Wed, 31 May 1995 15:44:23 CST

From:  salikoko mufwene <mufw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>

Subject: Re: 'rush hour'



In Message Wed, 31 May 1995 10:15:04 -0400,

 Dennis R Preston <preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PILOT.MSU.EDU> writes:



>Did you know that Traffic Jam in French was Marmelade de Traffique?



  A term I have often heard in BOUCHON 'plug, cork (of a bottle)', which

remains close enough to EMBOUTEILLAGE, leterally 'bottling'.

  By the way, doesn't RUSH HOUR have to do with what causes (somewhat

indirectly) traffic jams: the fact that people RUSH to work or back home

during rush hours? Incidentally, in ON LANGUAGE CHANGE, Rudi Keller uses an

analogy to traffic jam (with every next driver hitting the breaks harder to

avoid hitting the preceding car) to illustrate the cumulative effect of

individual actions in bringing about change.

  Sali.

Salikoko S. Mufwene

University of Chicago

Dept. of Linguistics

1010 East 59th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu

312-702-8531; fax: 312-702-9861