Talk:park the car in Harvard Yard

References

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RFV

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park the car in Harvard Yard

This is a proverb? Whatever it is, does it meet out CFI? SemperBlotto 11:05, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

The phrase itself really has no meaning unless spoken with a Boston accent, and then the meaning is only in the way it is pronounced. Where I live, about 2hrs south of Boston - we use it when poking fun at the way people from Boston speak. --Versageek 11:59, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

I am unsure if it is a proverb, if not I am not clear as to what it could be. I have cited it properly, and it is a common enough phrase. The cites relay usage in situations that convey meaning of the phrase (meaning being the phrase is used to describe the Boston accent.) Keep. sewnmouthsecret 16:36, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

A proverb? A basic truth, that cars should be parked in Harvard Yard? Ha!

Let's try to keep headings to a minimum. How would we characterize The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog? She sells seashells by the seashore? DAVilla 19:49, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

These are a pangram and a tongue twister respectively, not phrases used in elocution. — Paul G 15:46, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Excellent references. Keep as "set-phrase" or perhaps as a linguistic shibboleth? --Connel MacKenzie 16:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

What Versageek said.

Connel's going to hate me for saying this, but I believe this is the first time I have ever seen the words "park the car in Harvard Yard" in print. Nobody says this, and nobody (except perhaps for the three demented authors of those three bizarre citations somebody added) ever writes it this way, either. Everybody says, and writes, "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd" (where the spelling doesn't even do the phrase full justice; those missing r's aren't just non-rhotic, they're pronouncedly nasal).

(But P.S. I am not lobbying for -- or against -- this entry's deletion, just making a point.) —scs 17:48, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

No hate! My "keep" above was perhaps too strong. Weak keep probably reflects my opinion better. For all idioms, the phrase is "reduced" to its most basic form, with redirects pointing to the idiomatic entry. I would expect the two or three (or so) phonetic spelling variants to similarly redirect, or at least link back and forth. The idea of using Appendix:Shibboleths seems better, though. Why doesn't this have an audio pronunciation file yet? --Connel MacKenzie 07:07, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Just as a sidenote, I am from the Boston area transplanted in the south, and every time I mention where I'm from they say "say it." I always know what "it" is- "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd."

I was surprised at the number of sites, as well as google book entries, it generated-but it is definitely being used in print. sewnmouthsecret 19:17, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

I shall wait with baited breath for the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain and hurricanes hardly ever happen in Hertfordshire SemperBlotto 17:56, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

I sincerely hope you mean bated ... Robert Ullmann 12:21, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Appendix:List of shibboleths, perhaps? Cynewulf 19:36, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Keep something like set phrase. Point is that someone looking it up has no chance of understanding what the phrase means from its parts: it has nothing to do with parking, cars, or Harvard yard. Exactly the sort of thing one refers to a dictionary to figure out. Probably should be just Phrase (And no one from Boston-Propah tawks like this, maybe the people in Rah-vee-yah do ;-) Robert Ullmann 12:21, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Can we also have In Herefordshire, Hertfordshire and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen (not sure of the order of the counties), how now, brown cow? (ref: Pygmalion) and The water in Majorca don't taste like what it ought to [sic] (kudos to whoever can tell me what that refers to), please? — Paul G 15:46, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Maybe this could be placed in a category called "test phrase" like "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." It's not really a phrasal verb since it's both not literal and also doesn't actually relate conceptually to what it's trying to describe. Even though this may not be a relevant phrase that everyone is accustomed to, I actually learned something from this entry, being from Wisconsin. --Mfactor 17:48, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

RFV passed, in that it's been cited for almost 4 months with no objections. (This can still be brought to WT:RFD, though, or even back here if someone wants to argue that the citations are mentions rather than uses.) —Ruakh_TALK 21:53, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

The following information has failed Wiktionary's deletion process.

It should not be re-entered without careful consideration.

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park the car in Harvard Yard

This is a made-up sentence which, when pronounced with a Boston accent, is missing a lot of rs that other dialects pronounce. Compare "Mary, dear, make me merry; say you'll marry me", which, when pronounced in certain accents, contrasts several vowels that are not contrasted in other accents. It's just not the sort of thing that belongs in a dictionary, IMO. - -sche (discuss) 07:38, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Delete. Lexicographically irrelevant. Shibboleths like this, as well as tongue twisters, pangrams, phrases that read the same backwards, phrases designed to fool people, etc. are appendix material at best. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 07:44, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Delete. Mglovesfun (talk) 09:10, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Agree with Ungoliant. Delete or move to any suitable appendix that might list such things. Equinox ◑ 15:47, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

• Delete. All cites are mentions, not uses. If there are any real uses, they're almost certainly bound to be SOP. —Angr 11:43, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Someone who likes this kind of thing should probably create an Appendix, to which we can refer folks with a {{only-in}}. DCDuring TALK 19:36, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Lemming check: The Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms and The Routledge Dictionary of English Language Studies both have this. WP has it as a redirect to w:Boston accent. DCDuring TALK 19:42, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Surely the actual definition, if there is one, is "to park the car in Harvard Yard". Mglovesfun (talk) 10:29, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

I think it would be better considered as having a {{n-g}} definition. Something like: Used to exemplify the non-rhotic pronunciation characteristic of certain New England accents. DCDuring TALK 13:15, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

I have created Appendix:List of shibboleths, which includes park the car in Harvard Yard. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 10:58, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

• Delete per nom; kudos to Ungoliant for implementing an appropriate solution. bd2412 T 15:16, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

I've deleted the entry by replacing it with an {{only in}} redirect to the appendix. I've now RFDed the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. - -sche (discuss) 01:07, 26 July 2013 (UTC)