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"Leaning towards Fisher's"

Posted by Steve e on February 24, 2005

In Reply to: "Leaning towards Fisher's" posted by AJ on February 24, 2005

: My mother used this term all the time when I was a kid. I searched for the phrase "Leaning towards Fisher's" and several permutations (fishers vs. fisher's, toward, to, towards, etc.) with no success on Google and the OED.

: I found only one reference, and I've corresponded with her; she's at Penn State, and also has no ideas as to the origins. My mother is from central Pennsylvania (Defiance, PA), and says it was common to the area. I don't suppose it was common to anywhere else.

: I doubt anything dramatic will come up, but if anyone has any information as to the origins of this phrase, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

As the phrase uses an 's on Fisher it could imply that Fisher's is a place. So that the phrase means that [something] is leaning toward Fisher's [that place]. There is a Fisher's Island in Block Island Sound off the coast of Connecticut and off the tip of Long Island.

As you mention central PA, and Fisher's Island is to the immediate right of PA on a map (slightly east and slightly north, depending on the exact location in PA), could it have been meant to mean that something is leaning to the right, i.e., toward Fisher's Island? It's a stretch, but I thought I would post-it although for the life of me I cannot construct how people in Central PA would develop/acquire an expression that relates to a very, very tiny island off the coast of Connecticut. It would make more sense if the expression was 'Leaning towards Harrisburg' or 'Leaning toward Pittsburg' because both places are, of course, in PA.

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