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Leans toward Sherbondy's

Posted by ESC on June 02, 2011 at 00:49

In Reply to: Leans toward Sherbondy's posted by Kelli Kallenborn on May 04, 2011 at 17:17:

: Any idea of the origin of the phrase "leans toward Sherbondy's" or "leans toward Sherbondy's barn"? This is said of something that leans a bit more than it should, e.g., "That old gate leans toward Sherbondy's." This may or may not be of western Pennsylvania (USA) origin.

I have never heard this phrase in any of its forms. But apparently, it is common:

Lean toward Jesus/Fisher’s/Perkins – 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.

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