Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Let me take you to... Acacia Avenue

I came across this word today, Acacia Avenue.  I guess it's actually two words, but taken together they make up one word meaning.  It's a common street name in the UK, so by extension is a British euphemism for the middle class or hoi polloi, much as some commentators use "Main Street" to refer to Mr. and Mrs. Joe Average, the salt of the earth, regular folk, the common clay of the Midwest.  You know... morons.

Whoops, got off track there. 

Here are some usages I found on the web:

  • Acacia Avenue is a cliche of British culture, a metaphor for a middle-class suburban street and a middle-class suburban life. (This from a piece Auntie Beeb did on "Lives of Acacia Avenue Revealed")
  • The householders of Acacia Avenue, the nesting box of Middle England, have taken time off from dusting the garden gnomes to respond to a survey about their lives - which could be summarised as "mustn't grumble".
  • Acacia Avenue has been a byword for contented suburban dullness at least since the 1940s, when Henry Cass made the film 29 Acacia Avenue (although the play dates from earlier).

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