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stranger
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stranger
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When did it become "safety deposit box" rather than "safe deposit box"? I am very old, and in my youth it was always "safe deposit". I think usage may have elided the "safe" with the "dee" syllable in "deposit". Then it began to be written that way. (It really annoys me!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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WELCOME, SUZ
Where I bank it is "safe deposit", but at another where
I do banking for another person, it is 'safety deposit"
So, six of one and half dozen of another, as it were.
Last edited by LukeJavan8; 04/26/2011 5:50 PM.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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member
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member
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Well, "safety deposit vault" has been around since 1892.
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stranger
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stranger
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I haven't been around QUITE that long, but the first time I remember reading it as "safety" instead of "safe" wasn't until some time in the 50s or 60s. I thought at the time that someone had misheard the phrase & so misspelled it. Where did you get the citation from the 1800s?
Perhaps the difference could be regional??
Suz
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It's in the OED, the quote is Twain's:
1892 ‘M. Twain’ Lett. to Publishers (1967) 304 As fast as Halsey delivers the securities to you I want you to put them in a box in a Safety Deposit Vault, and keep the key yourself.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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..and if you were to plug the entire quote given above into Google Books, you would find the entire context from Mark Twain's letters.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome aBoard, suz! That one hasn't bothered me, but I thought today during a newscast about our flooding, "Thank heaven the guy did NOT say 'preventative' ". Argh.
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old hand
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old hand
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You have certainly declarated your feelings on THAT subject!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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You have certainly declarated your feelings on THAT subject! ask her about orientate! :¬ )
formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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oops....I'm guilty of that one 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Watching parts of the Royal Wedding I noticed some
commentators, when referring to Elizabeth II, say
she was "coronated" back in 1952. I've never heard the
term used thusly. I thought it was "crowned". Is
"coronated" usable?
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: May 2010
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old hand
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old hand
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Since 1623, according to Merriam-Webster.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Handel, the Coronation Anthems: YouTube
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Since 1623, according to Merriam-Webster. So I see looking into M-W. We have so few of them (coronations) around here that I had never heard the term. We use "crowned".
----please, draw me a sheep----
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old hand
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old hand
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Or, I suppose, kinged, if you're a checkers player.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I did see a number of folks wearing "Burger King" paper hats
along the royal route in London.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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