Doorwall reminds me of Hosepipe (Off-Topic)

by Funkmon , Saturday, October 17, 2015, 06:02 (3328 days ago) @ red robber

I don't get hosepipe. Most people I've heard use hosepipe for a water hose or garden hose. That's a hose. Hoses are flexible, pipes are rigid. I suppose there could be a material that is semiflexible and made of a more rigid material to fit the idea of the hosepipe.

Doorwall is similar but even more oxymoronic. A door is an opening to pass through verses a wall which is used for blocking off areas. Never heard this term though, and it was an interesting story. I lived in NW Ohio for a while and never heard that term.

Just out of curiosity, do you say creek or "crick" in your area?

Creek is one of those that doesn't seem to be based on region, though it is most common in the inland north. Blue is crick, red is creek.

For hosepipe, it may be a remnant from when hose meant lots of stuff. It used to be a common word for the sheath over corn, for leggings (which is where the word comes from), and quite a few other things. Pipe USUALLY means something rigid, but it doesn't have to. It's possible hose-pipe was used to distinguish between the varieties of hoses. Currently, we often have to distinguish them with "garden hose," even though most other varieties of hose are now obsolete. Hose-pipe makes some sense there. That said, language doesn't make sense. Sometimes words is just words and don't make no sense. Like door wall.

I'm not surprised you haven't heard the term. It appears to be hyper-local, occurring mostly in the northern Detroit suburbs and the city itself. Whereas other Detroit terms such as Coney Island for a diner extend out 50 to 100 miles easily in all directions, this one appears to barely make it 30, and only in one direction.