Jitney

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
sluggo
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Jitney

Postby sluggo » Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:23 pm

Jitney
-a small short bus in the surprisingly rich ilk of share taxis; archaically a nickel/five-cent piece

First seen on trips to the Jersey Shore growing up. I wondered if this is a regionalism belonging in a regional accent quiz, or if it's widely known.

Dictionary.com has more including a reportedly unlikely source Jeton, kind of as a poker chip.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Sun Dec 03, 2006 3:00 pm

Hey Sluggo, a great segue from drainchild

Mark appreciating-the-smooth-flow-and-genius-when-I-see-it Bailey

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









skinem
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Postby skinem » Sun Dec 03, 2006 3:49 pm

...and to segue back to jitney...

In my life, I've heard this word most frequently in the sawmills and canneries of the Pacific Northwest when referring to forklifts. I haven't seen this use in any of the dictionaries.

Palewriter
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Postby Palewriter » Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:16 pm

A great word. Immortalized in the time-capsule lyrics of Cole Porter:

"When folks who used to ride in jitneys,
Find out Vanderbilts and Whitneys,
Lack baby clothes,
Anything goes."

-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:10 am

I rode the Mission Street Jitney in San Francisco back in 1975 during a business trip. It was a van that carried passengers on a route, up and down Mission Street, for a small fee. Not as much fun as the cable car.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee


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