by Anura Guruge
on March 18, 2022
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It, viz., ‘red-light district‘, is a term I am conversant with given that I grew up in Europe & am no stranger to most of the major western European hotspots. So, I was taken back when listening to the above book, i.e., ‘The Survival of Margaret Thomas‘, to hear the claim that the term originated with U.S. railroad workers c. 1880. Seemed incongruous on multiple fronts.
Just had a feeling that the term had to be older & to have originated in Europe, in one or more of the legendary port cities. Plus the notion of a railway sending folks to gather up workers in an ’emergency’ by going door-to-door just did not feel right. I have a fairly good feel for railway lore. They would have used a steam whistle, a siren or clanked a loud bell. Even firing into the air would have been more expedient & efficient.
So, of course, I looked it up & you can read the Wikipedia entry above. It was good to see that they too expressed skepticism of the Old West yarn. But, I will let you ponder this. My goal was to bring it to your attention.
You might also find this post, from a year ago, thanks to another book I was listening to of interest. You can learn so much from books.
