Origins
The term skid road dates back to the 17th century, when it referred to a log road, used to skid or drag logs through woods and bog. The term was in common usage in the mid-19th century and came to refer not just to the corduroy roads themselves, but to logging camps and mills all along the Pacific Coast. The source of the term as an urban-landscape reference is heavily debated, and is generally identified as originating in either Vancouver or Seattle.
One job on the skid road was lubricating it to make the logs slide more easily. The person with that job was called the "grease monkey", predating, and probably giving rise to the modern usage of grease monkey as a mechanic.
The term Felony Flats is a common pejorative nickname for neighborhoods in various American cities, usually referring to a "bad" part of town. The name comes from areas where an unusually high number of formerly convicted felons might reside. However sometimes the nickname sticks to neighborhoods where the actual statistics might not be true.
Cities with neighborhoods nicknamed Felony Flats include Portland, Oregon; Spokane, Washington; Aberdeen, Washington; and north of Wasilla, Alaska among others.
Read more about this topic: Skid Row
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)