Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

The word was discussed here about a year ago.  There seem to be two
definitions, a elevated patch of ground and a depressed one (think
"dike"and "ditch").  The first one has been linked to FlaE usage, and
ought to be the one used here, but the preposition "in" seems to
indicate the second.

As Tony Cooper said then, "I have to admit to being confused by
actually reading the definition and looking up this site.  All these
years I've thought the swale was like a ridge constructed to keep the
run-off out of a yard.  That's what the contractor who built my house
called that dike-like mound he graded around my yard when the house
was built."

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/fac58855ad
82a534/f9f89e16ca048cc8?lnk=gst&q=swale+cooper#f9f89e16ca048cc8
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yg4kzca

I think this was discussed before. There appear to be two usages, one
meaning a low area the other a high area.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.usage.english/msg/720ce15a55c292ea

   Message from discussion Florida Dialect
   tony cooper  23 Mar 2009, 19:24
<my snippage>

   Between the earlier posts and this post I drove to the camera store
   to pick up some enlargements.  Coincidentally, I drove past a
   neighbor's house that has a driveway that is slightly lower than the
   street.  The driveway was poured before the streets were paved, so
   the street is higher than the driveway.
   
   The neighbor has an asphalt ridge (like a "sleeping policeman")
   where the driveway meets the street that is there to stop water
   run-off from the street from pooling in his driveway.  The neighbor
   was taking the mail out of his streetside mailbox, so I stopped and
   asked him what he calls that bump.  
   
   "Swale", he said.  I grinned and moved on leaving my neighbor to
   wonder what in the world I was on about.  
   
   We are odd around here, but we understand each other.
   
   --
   Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

In the same thread from Jerry Friedman:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.usage.english/msg/478a8090a62f5dce

<quote>
....

http://www.hollywoodfl.org/pub-util/services-storm_your-help.htm, but

Swales (according to the dictionary definition) seem to be popular in
Florida.  Here's an example of the reasons.

"A swale is a dip in your lawn, which varies in depth from 6 inches to
a few feet. Swales retain and treat storm water runoff by providing a
filter for contaminants and pollutants. Swales also provide drainage
by allowing water to soak into the ground or flow into inlets and
canals."

http://www.margatefl.com/police/publications/resident_code_manual.htm

Here's a site that defines "swale" simply as "the area between the
sidewalk and the street".

http://camelotwoods.org/arch_committee.htm

However, that's a "deed restricted community" (sic on the lack of
hyphen), so maybe they made sure there's a swale between every
sidewalk and street, and didn't feel they had to point out to
residents that it's called that because it's low, or high.

As I didn't find any Web sites with that usage, I wonder how local it
is.  Maybe just Orlando?  Maybe just neighborhoods where the custom is
to put a berm in front of the property rather than a (dictionary)
swale?

But this kind of change happens.  "Watershed" went through the
opposite change--from meaning the high ground between basins to also
mean the basins themselves. Or it could have been generalized to "the
area between the sidewalk and the street", including neighborhoods
where it's common to raise that area.

People apparently use "on" with the low kind of swale.  The site I
quoted above, which defined a swale as a dip in the lawn, says, "Where
curbs are not provided, vehicles must be parked on the swale in a
manner that they do not take up more than 12 inches of the paved
portion of the roadway."

Many hits I found, though, said it's illegal to park in or on the
swale since it compacts the soil, so that may be the point of Fran's
author's quotation.

<endquote>