|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2 |
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!)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,918 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,918 Likes: 2 |
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; 04/26/11 05:50 PM.
----please, draw me a sheep----
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 132
member
|
|
member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 132 |
Well, "safety deposit vault" has been around since 1892.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2
stranger
|
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2 |
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
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 132
member
|
|
member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 132 |
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.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
..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.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
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.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963 |
You have certainly declarated your feelings on THAT subject!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
You have certainly declarated your feelings on THAT subject! ask her about orientate! :¬ )
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706 |
oops....I'm guilty of that one 
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,350
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
773
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
|
|
