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Joined: Mar 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
CLOSE:
Pronunciation: 'klOs,
Noun: 1 a : an enclosed area b chiefly British : the precinct of a cathedral
2 chiefly British a : a narrow passage leading from a street to a court and the houses within or to the common stairway of tenements b : a road closed at one end.
Etymology: Middle English clos, literally, enclosure, from Old French clos, from Latin clausum, from neuter of clausus, past participle
Date: 13th century
I had planned to finish with highways and byeways yesterday, but the word ‘close’ has been suggested and that will segue* into something different.
A ‘shut’ (see yesterday) is a narrow passageway but a ‘close’ can nowadays be a bigger thing entirely as the modern usage is mostly 2b above. So, on today’s new housing estates, say since the 1920s, you will find houses built around short cul-de-sacs off the access roads in order to make efficient use of the land. These are often called something like ‘Peabody Close’, where Peabody is the name of some local worthy, past or present or ‘Chestnut Close’ if there are some nice trees around. This is obviously a modern expansion of 2a where the ‘close’ was similar in width to a ‘shut’, but whereas a shut is usually a passageway joining two streets a close is always a dead end. The close leading to tenements is seen in Scottish towns and cities and is mentioned in a popular Scottish comic song giving an amusing account of a lady weaver from Dundee defending her honour, to whit her "me thingy-ma-jig", against a rascally Glaswegian, and failing. In the last verse she gives a good piece of advice:
Oh, all you Dundee weavers tak this advise frae me:
Never let a Glasgie fairlay, an inch above your knee,
Never stond at the back of a close or up against the wa',
For if you de y' can safely say me thingy-ma-jig's awa',
For if you de y' can safely say me thingy-ma-jig's awa'!
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Do you say it with a "z" or "s" sound? I had a friend who lived on a "close" and it was said with an "s" sound. When we were small we fancifully called cul-de-sacs "lighbulb" or "lollipop" streets. We felt these terms were more appropriate! 
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
What about an "end"? Always had a fancy to live in one of those ...
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Do you say it with a "z" or "s" sound?
With a soft 's' sound. Like when the weather is close and muggy. Do you use those expressions?
I like lollipop street - with the turning circle at the end of course!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Yeah, but what about end. Anyone?
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
you mean a dead end? i used to live on one..
not a cul-de-sac that has a wide curving end, but a street that was the same size from start to finish.. and finish was one block after it started..
Dead End is the most common way to describe such streets in NY. (even cul-de-sac's) but sometimes you'll see a sign, No through traffic
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
ot, you've brought this street up before, and whenever you do, for some reason, I get the picture of a street that's dead at *both ends... and I'm thinking "gosh, you were really isolated!" 
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
totally off topic,..Re:When we were small we fancifully called cul-de-sacs "lighbulb"
is lightbulb (or light bulb) in the dictionary yet? it hadn't made it to most dictionaries as of 1975 or so... weird, but true!
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
lightbulb is in MWCD-10, attested in 1884, so I tried tracing it back; it wasn't in MW-6 (1967) but 'light bulb' appears in MW-7 (1973).
It appears that AHD4 still has only 'light bulb'.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
How many linguists does it take to get AHD4 to put in a lightbulb?
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