Talk:Sunday-go-to-meeting

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Is this at all widespread?

• No, but it doesn't need to be. SemperBlotto 10:22, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, there are no references and I've never heard of it. Or have I misunderstood the criteria for raising an RFV? Moglex 10:24, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

• Most people would say the same of squicky! SemperBlotto 10:26, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Quite possibly although I've been aware of the term for years and have never read the newsgroup where it is claimed to have its genesis. It's also simply another part of speech of a word that has passed RFV.

Anyway, is that actually relevant to the matter in hand?

There is no reference for the 'Sunday-go-to-meeting'. I've never heard of it. Are those suitable criteria for raising an RFV? Moglex 10:42, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

It probably should be tagged as "Chiefly British" or somesuch. --Connel MacKenzie 11:48, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Somesuch being the operative word. "Chiefly American" on further digging. I think it is a mistake for Americans to assume that just because they've never heard of a word it's British.

Of course, having never heard of the word I thought it was American (or Austrailian). It just doesn't sound British to me,so I can't complain.

Digging around it seems to be in MW but not OED.

In the 1800s and first half of 1900s at least, Sunday-go-to-meeting was a common adjective applied to anyone’s best clothes or shoes. It’s still well-known in the American Midwest if nowhere else. It sounds a bit folksy, but everybody I know knows it. —Stephen 12:02, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Absolutely, I am familiar with it, wouldn't question it. At least American; I don't recall hearing it in the Commonwealth. Robert Ullmann 17:46, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I've heard it in UK, though not recently, and possibly only from people who had spent a year or more in US (Boston & Washington). Google.books shows mainly US use, but at least one UK & one Aus cite. --Enginear 21:21, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

I should, of course, have checked at least MW before raising this, so apologies for wasting everyone's time. Moglex 18:21, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

No, indeed it is an interesting term. I've heard "wear one's Sunday best" thousands of times, but not "Sunday-go-to-meeting" ever. I don't think this has a usage note indicating that it is limited to the rural midwest yet. (Is rural midwest correct?) --Connel MacKenzie 01:00, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

It's not restricted to the "rural mid-west" -- see my note two posts above. --Enginear 19:12, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

It may be an obscure term, but it's well-known enough to have been satirized: I know it only from the The Chips's song "Rubber Biscuit" (originally performed in 1956, covered in 1978 by The Blues Brothers):

The other day

I had a coool water sandwich

And a Sunday go to meeting bun

—scs 03:02, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

RFV deferred if not withdrawn. DAVilla 16:06, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I heard it growing up in Ohio as "Sunday go to meetin' time" (with an accent similar to that from Appalachia) but cannot recall if it was said by a classmate or heard on a rerun of an old movie or TV show.

Origins

So, perhaps this is a silly question, but is there any data on the origin of the term? Seeing as calling Sunday church services "meetings" originated with Puritans, Quakers, and other such groups who mostly were explicitly opposed to having fancy clothes.... --FZ 13:08, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

A Dictionary of Americanisms (edited by Mitford M Mathews, published by the University of Chicago Press,1951)gives the earliest recorded use in The Boston Transcript of 12 December 1831: "They tossed on their Sunday-go-to-meetings...". It gives another quote, from Thomas Bailey Aldrich Sea Turn 1902: "The street wasn't what might be called a Sunday-go-to-meeting street". 121.73.29.38 02:29, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

• sunday go-to-meeting bun is a leftover roll that one quickly pockets on the way to church. Basically, it means day old or stale hard bread — This unsigned comment was added by 65.96.164.28 (talk).

• "The other day, I had me a cool water sandwich and a sunday-go-to-meetin' bun. That is to say, I had me a slice of watermelon and took a little lady to church, bow-bow-bow." -Elwood Blues — This unsigned comment was added by 129.186.194.59 (talk).

• As well as sunday-go-to-meeting car, the barely-used car only used by a little old lady to drive to church, and which is ever so popular among used-car salesmen. 'This car was driven by a little old lady for about an hour every sunday. It's a BARGAIN!' — This unsigned comment was added by 85.230.41.210 (talk).

• Ive never heard this term in my life. it is illogical — This unsigned comment was added by 210.248.161.45 (talk).

• Hardly illogical... meeting (or "meet") = church Krigsmakten (talk) 21:23, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

• The definition of illogicality is not that one hasn't heard it before.