I am at a meeting in Rhode Island and met someone here who is also interested in words and language. We got to talking, and he told me about a phrase which he thinks is limited to Woonscocket, Rhode Island, a city with 41,186 people. That phrase is: "one by each," which means, "side by side." Have you heard that phrase? I find it hard to believe a phrase would be limited to such a small city.

What other regional phrases do you know?

I hope he will join Wordcraft!

Never heard it here.

The way I've heard it (and it isn't limited to the illiterates of Woonsocket) is "side by each", meaning "side by side". It seems to be fairly common among the Italian community here, as I learned from my wife's family over many years. Some folks who do not live side by each but diagonally across the street live "catty-corner" or "kitty-korner" from each other.

quote:

"side by each"

Interesting, Proof. Here's a blog post saying almost the same as you.

So much serendipity.