She DIDN'T mean ectomorph

April 13, 2012 10:25 PM

Front-Range natives---and those with deep roots there:

When I lived in Denver I spent a day at the main library reading some of Lenora Mattingly Weber's (who wrote the Beany Malone books) early adult novels. In them she used the term"Lanky" to refer to a particular ethnic group. It was used in the same way as "Swede" and "Bohunk"; NOT tall, skinny and long-waisted. On my last trip to Denver I asked the library's special collections staff if they knew what she meant, but they were unable to help me.

Would any of you know?

posted by brujita to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

Best answer: Not a Front Range native by any stretch, but found this (PDF) via Googling. It's the only result for searching "front range" and "lankies", with each term in quotes:

At its peak, Carbon had seven coal mines worked by “Lankies” (because several miners came from Lancashire, England).

The Carbon in question here refers to the abandoned town of Carbon in Wyoming, now considered a "ghost town." As you'd expect, it's located in Carbon County, WY.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 11:50 PM on April 13, 2012

Immigrants from Lancashire (or, possibly more likely, Lancashire Irish)? I gather a lot of the miners in Colorado were immigrants from that area after the strikes in the late 19th / early 20th century
posted by Pinback at 11:55 PM on April 13, 2012

Or, on lack of preview, what Conrad said. Looking into union history in the area might prove fruitful.
posted by Pinback at 12:01 AM on April 14, 2012

Response by poster: Hmmm...does this sound right to the Lancastrian mefites? I think Weber was also referring to people whose first language wasn't English.
posted by brujita at 9:01 AM on April 14, 2012

Best answer: Well I live in Denver, you may remember me from a Boulder meet-up, and I'm Lancashire born and raised. Lanky is a term for the Lancashire dialect. So that's a second support for Conrad's answer.

This web site offers some example dialect--none of which I have ever encountered before.
posted by NailsTheCat at 8:42 PM on April 14, 2012

Response by poster: I do remember you! How's the kitten doing?

Since nothing else has turned up, I'll go with your and Conrad's answers.
posted by brujita at 9:46 PM on April 14, 2012