Chrysti The Wordsmith: Wrong Side of the Tracks

Greetings This is Christie the wordsmith. In most American cities the so-called wrong side of the tracks is the least desirable part of town. It's the place you avoid after dark and the neighborhood you'd rather be from than move to. What makes one side of the tracks wrong and the other side right. Towns that emerged along American railroad lines in the 19th and 20th centuries were frequently divided by the tracks themselves into rich and poor sections in thousands of railroad settlements. The less desirable real estate was often determined by the prevailing winds that carried the smoke. Noise and odor of the train's engine and cargo into a specific locality the downwind neighborhood was a very unpleasant place to set up housekeeping and ultimately became the wrong side of the tracks. Meanwhile the wealthy and affluent built homes and businesses on the right or good side upwind of the rail stop. American writer Thorne's Smith provided one of the first citations of this expression in his 1929 novel The stray lamb. In most commuting towns he

wrote there are always two sides of which the tracks serve as a line of demarcation. There is the right side and the wrong side. Translated into terms of modern American idealism This means the rich side and the side that hopes to be rich. I'm Christie the wordsmith. Thanks to Brody Kates studio engineer for the series and Professor Phil Gaines consulting editor Dave herbivores Christie the wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.