End of ADS-L Digest - 1 Oct 1995 to 2 Oct 1995 ********************************************** There are 38 messages totalling 896 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. downtown/inner city (3) 2. icebox and upstate (4) 3. icebox 4. ice box 5. upstate 6. inner city 7. Terminology of unexcused absences/ and bar time. (3) 8. 'chili' or 'chile' (2) 9. phonetics of dialects 10. bar time ((mis)use of header) 11. Bar Time??? 12. downtown/inner city -Reply 13. Terminology of unexcused absences/ and bar time. -Reply 14. phonetic spelling in high places -Reply (2) 15. pronunciation note (2) 16. phonetic spelling in high places (2) 17. Upstate NY (4) 18. Terminology of unexcused absences 19. metric or ... 20. Laying Out: Hookey or Tanning? (2) 21. Iceboxes 22. Fwd: Re(2): downtown/inner city 23. Collecting things (I collect warnings) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 00:28:06 -0400 From: Virginia Clark Subject: Re: downtown/inner city At 06:37 PM 10/2/95 -0400, Christopher R. Coolidge wrote: > In Burlington, VT, when we mean "we're going downtown" we say "we're going >downstreet." This came about because most of Burlington's population lives >off North Ave, the main drag to the north, or Shelburne Rd. to the south. >Hence the term downstreet is expedient, as well as true, unless you're a >UVM student, in which case the term would be "downhill," since UVM is up- >hill and east of downtown. However, the expected term hasn't caught on, >presumably because the students aren't around long enough. > > The term "downstreet" was in use in many small Vermont towns (which meant most Vermont towns) as far back as the mid 1940s. Vermont ("in-state") students at UVM report that it is still in use today. I think that their usage may have spread to the out-of-state students at UVM, and suggest that as its origin in Burlington, as opposed to the very logical process described by Mr. Coolidge. But where did it originally come from? Virginia P. Clark Professor of English University of Vermont Burlington, VT 05405