Leaning towards Fishers

Posted by ESC on May 28, 2009 at 00:44

In Reply to: Leaning towards Fishers posted by Jennifer W on May 27, 2009 at 20:39:

: There was a question some time ago about the saying "Leaning towards Fishers". I'm from Altoona, Pa (Central Pa) and as far as I can remember and my friend can remember the saying originated from something leaning towards a very large department store located in a town named Fishers.

Interesting. For the record, here's what was posted in 2005:

LEAN TOWARD JESUS/FISHER'S/ PERKIN'S - Lean towards Jesus -- "A carpenter's expression for something slanted, out of plumb." From the Mountain Range chapter of Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 2000). Page 385.

In a second reference, there is a long section about the verb "lean." One meaning is "to depart hurriedly" as in "lean for home." But the meaning we seek is: in (phrases) "lean toward Jones's," also New England "lean towards Sawyer's" and variations. To slant, tilt, be out of plumb. To lean towards Fisher's. Pennsylvania. Other forms: Perkin's, Cooper's, Schoonover's. "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume III, I-O, by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1996, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England). Page 317.