thank-you-ma'am

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The Word of the Day for August 17 is:



thank-you-ma'am   \THANK-yoo-mam\   noun

     : a bump or depression in a road; especially : a ridge or hollow made 
across a road on a hillside to cause water to run off



Example sentence:

     "That night on the way home, thinking of his pleasant visit, he was 
suddenly shaken out of his tranquility ... when his touring car hit a 
'thank-you-ma'am' in the unpaved road." (Hugh Manchester, _Centre Daily Times_ 
[State College, PA], August 22, 2000) 



Did you know?

     "Thank-you-ma'am" might seem like an odd name for a bump in the road, but 
the expression makes a little more sense if you imagine the motion your head 
would make as you drove over such an obstacle. Most likely, the jarring would 
make you nod involuntarily. Now think of the nodding gesture you make when 
you're thanking someone or acknowledging a favor. The "thank-you-ma'am" road 
bump is believed to have received its name when someone noted the similarity of 
those two head bobbing motions. It's a colloquialism particular to American 
English, and its earliest printed use is found in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 
1849 prose piece, _Kavanagh_: "We went like the wind over the hollows in the 
snow; -- the driver called them 'thank-you-ma'ams,' because they make every 
body bow."











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