|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
A quick Googling reveals that this direction predominates over the other three, though the north forty yields a fair showing
I was appalled not to find the expression in the usual dictionaries; slang, idiom, or otherwise. To my understanding, the term is used to denote any area of vacant land adjacent a home or ranch, regardless of its size and usu its direction from the house
All further input welcome--thanks guys and gals
dalehileman
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
huh. up here it's the north forty pretty regular like.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
Quote:
huh. up here it's the north forty pretty regular like.
agreed, from even moreso -- indicating a certain pejorativeness, like it's the last plot to be plowed (spring or winter), and used allusively.
edit: and not just up here..
Willie Nelson's 33rd Annual 4th of July Picnic - Fort Worth ... ... in the early afternoon, joining up with Marty Dread and Los Maui Boys on the south stage of the North Forty concert venue in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
edit[2]: Did you ever notice how Timmie would talk to Lassie? "Lassie, Lassie, go get Mom and Dad and tell them I'm down by the beaver pond and I'm stuck under a pine tree. It's a loblolly pine tree, not the long-leaf variety. They are on the north forty, Lassie. Not the south forty, the north forty, on the red tractor." And Lassie would take off. "Woof!" That would be all Lassie would say, "Oh my God, Paul. Timmy is down by the beaver pond stuck under a loblolly pine tree."
Last edited by tsuwm; 05/30/06 08:32 PM.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
When I was growing up in Atlanta, I heard both "south forty" and "back forty."
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
Anna: Pertinent. Did they mean the same thing
Thanks
dalehileman
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Yep. As you pointed out, it's not an exact measurement. Folks use both terms mostly to mean the back yard. Have you ever seen this? I worked for them as a researcher in college back in the 1970s: http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 456
addict
|
addict
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 456 |
...Lassie...
Actually, a well-trained ear could discern that Lassie did have a remarkable vocabulary of at least four words.
ÅΓª╥┐↕§
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
I seem to remember a lot of family farms being 120 acres. And, 40 acres is a convenient division (1/16) of a section: 1 section equals 1 square mile equals 640 acres. 36 sections (6 x 6) equals a township. (See here.)
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
> Homestead fwiw, my great-great-great-something-or-other was the Father of the Homestead Act
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
Anna: Thank you for confirming that
dalehileman
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,397
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
579
guests, and
1
robot. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|