What's a dooryard?

Lee Poulsen wpoulsen@pacbell.net
Sat, 08 Feb 2014 23:48:36 PST
The usage in which I first encountered the word dooryard and saw it used the most thereafter was in descriptions of fruit tree varieties recommended for ordinary people to try growing in their yards by the local county agricultural extension agent. It was used to distinguish some varieties that should only be tried around the home as opposed to the main varieties that were recommended for both commercial growers and homeowners.

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a
Latitude 34°N, Altitude 1150 ft/350 m

On Feb 8, 2014, at 5:03 PM, Bill Richardson <ixia@dcsi.net.au> wrote:

> dooryard
> 
> The exterior area of a home surrounding the most commonly used entryway,
> typically the driveway area; A logical extension of "barnyard," "back 
> yard"
> and "front yard," it is likely that this compound word grew out of a
> necessity to distinguish working areas from living areas. In a practice
> common to the region, homes were attached to barns and other 
> out-buildings;
> dooryard identifies the exterior area of a home not given over to farming. 
> A
> household word in the County, dooryard is seldom heard elsewhere.
> 
> "Buddy does a good job of plowin' out th' dooryard."
> 
> Bill Richardosn
> Ixiaking
> Australia




More information about the pbs mailing list