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While the phrase "Skid Row" was made popular during the Depression to describe run-down parts of town, the Word Detective dates the phrase to 19th-century logging towns in the Pacific Northwest. The loggers built "skid roads," which were made of old railroad ties or heavy wooden planks, to facilitate moving felled trees down to the mill. Word Origins, which dates the term to around 1880, goes on to describe how these "skid roads" eventually became associated with the areas where the loggers hung out, replete with bars, brothels, and bums. By the 1930s, "skid road" became a bad part of town called "skid row." The phrase "greasing the skids" comes from the same origin --
loggers greased the skids with oil to help move the trees faster. This lively article from the San Diego Union-Tribune sheds some light on other popular phrases like "toe the line," "caught red-handed," and "pushing the envelope." Finally, an article by R. Eugene Parnell claims that the original Skid Row was in downtown Seattle. Parnell notes that the cheap rents and large loft spaces of many of the mid-century skid rows of U.S. cities made them the perfect home to vibrant art communities today.
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