"Fid" Kennedy?
Alan Hamilton
>Hey, gang~~~
> This morning, I passed a commercial van. Lettered on the door was the name
>of the company, along with it's address:
> 19 Fid Kennedy Avenue, Boston, blah blah blah.
>
> "Fid"? With some Google-ing, I gather that "Fid" is a nickname, but I could
>be wrong. I didn't have enough time to Google all the way, so can anyone tell
>me a couple things about "Fid", such as:
> *What given name is it a nickname for?
> *What is the full name of the "Fid Kennedy" that is being referred to?
> *Where does he (she?) fit in the Joseph Kennedy family tree?
I'm crossposting this to misc.transport.road. Any Bostonians know who
or what a "Fid Kennedy" is?
--
/
/ * / Alan Hamilton
* * al...@arizonaroads.com
Steve
I've got a great guess it's Fitzgerald.
--
Steve from New Jersey
GO YANKEES!
Civil Engineering (Course 1) at MIT
Rebecca
(perhaps) it's more likely an acronym than an abbreviation.
Also, there must not be anything else on this street besides the Au Bon
Pain, given what google fed (fid?) me.
MS Streets and Trips shows Fid Kennedy Avenue as closest to the Economic Dev
Industrial Corporation. One thing to think of is that Fidelity Investments
is based in Boston. They own the Seaport Hotel which is .56 miles away.
I'm just stabbing now.
Rebecca
"Steve" <smal...@hackmit.edu> wrote in message
news:3D887C4F...@hackmit.edu...
bostontricky
> > This morning, I passed a commercial van. Lettered on the door was the name
> >of the company, along with it's address:
> > 19 Fid Kennedy Avenue, Boston, blah blah blah.
> >
> > "Fid"? With some Google-ing, I gather that "Fid" is a nickname, but I could
> >be wrong. I didn't have enough time to Google all the way, so can anyone tell
> >me a couple things about "Fid", such as:
> > *What given name is it a nickname for?
> > *What is the full name of the "Fid Kennedy" that is being referred to?
> > *Where does he (she?) fit in the Joseph Kennedy family tree?
>
> I'm crossposting this to misc.transport.road. Any Bostonians know who
> or what a "Fid Kennedy" is?
And I'm crossposting to ne.transportation. That'll get a bite...
Pete from Boston
> I see enough instances where it's FID not Fid....suggests to me that
> (perhaps) it's more likely an acronym than an abbreviation.
>
> Also, there must not be anything else on this street besides the Au Bon
> Pain, given what google fed (fid?) me.
>
> MS Streets and Trips shows Fid Kennedy Avenue as closest to the Economic Dev
> Industrial Corporation. One thing to think of is that Fidelity Investments
> is based in Boston. They own the Seaport Hotel which is .56 miles away.
> I'm just stabbing now.
Just to give you more targets at which to stab, Kennedy's a pretty
common name around these parts. Being named Kennedy doesn't
necessarily imply any connection to *the* Kennedys.
Dan Bock
Maybe "Fid" is something entirely different -- someone else's name,
maybe. But they couldn't decide between the names Fid Ave. and Kennedy
Ave., so they just used both. Just like they did with the Leonard P.
Zakim Bunker Hill Matthew J. Amorello Memorial Bridge.
Harry Conover
A "Fid" is a common rope splicing tool used by sailors and yachtmen to
make those really complex splices in their lines. (I suspect at least
1/3 of Bostonians know what a Fid is.) It's a close relative of a
Marlin Spike, but has a hollow center. (For the benefit of Land
Lubbers, a Marlin Spike is a round, tapered steel rod used to separate
the stands in a line, and the distinguishing characteric of a sailor's
or yachtsman's folding pocket knife. A Fid helps you in threading a
stand of line though the strand separation usually made with the
Marlin Spike, although if you're really hard-core, the Fid can be used
alone.
It's a safe bet that most male members of the Kennedy clan owned both
Fids and Marlin Spikes, being a family of yachtsmen, although I've
never heard of a particular style Fid being named after any of them.
Then too, perhaps in East Boston a Swedish Fid is called a Fid
Kennedy...since many other things there are named after the Kennedys.
I will note only is passing that 'Fid' is also used by waterfront
dwellers as a crude but commonplace reference to a penis, something
someone naming a street in South Boston would certainly be expected to
realize, unless it was done a a joke.
Still, I am reminded never to attribute to malice that what can be
explained by uncommon stupidity...and in the distance I think I see
Cardinal Law nodding in what is evidently agreement.
Harry C.
Blinky the Shark
> Maybe "Fid" is something entirely different -- someone else's name,
> maybe. But they couldn't decide between the names Fid Ave. and Kennedy
> Ave., so they just used both. Just like they did with the Leonard P.
> Zakim Bunker Hill Matthew J. Amorello Memorial Bridge.
I suspect in parts of NYC, it would just be the Avenue that comes after
Toid (or Turd) and Fort.
--
Blinky
Steve
> I will note only is passing that 'Fid' is also used by waterfront
> dwellers as a crude but commonplace reference to a penis, something
> someone naming a street in South Boston would certainly be expected to
> realize, unless it was done a a joke.
>
> Still, I am reminded never to attribute to malice that what can be
> explained by uncommon stupidity...and in the distance I think I see
> Cardinal Law nodding in what is evidently agreement.
>
> Harry C.
Kennedy Penis Avenue. Thanks, I didn't want to know that.
Nick Spalding
<7ce4e226.02091...@posting.google.com>:
Another fid in a nautical context is the securing bar through the
transverse slot at the bottom of a topmast to stop it falling back
down through the securing loops (whatever they are called - I've
forgotten). A topmast thus rigged is called a fidded topmast.
(This whole discussion is unnecessary - my spell checker says there's
no such word.)
--
Nick Spalding
Gary S. Callison
: Harry Conover wrote, in
: > A "Fid" is a common rope splicing tool used by sailors and yachtmen to
: > make those really complex splices in their lines....
: Another fid in a nautical context is the securing bar through the
: transverse slot at the bottom of a topmast to stop it falling back
: down through the securing loops (whatever they are called - I've
: forgotten). A topmast thus rigged is called a fidded topmast.
It's also a vaguely conical-shaped hand tool, used in stained glass
making. Lead came (one of the things that goes in between the glass in
stained glass) in storage tends to get bent up, and the fid is the tool
you run down the channel of the came to straighten it out.
: (This whole discussion is unnecessary - my spell checker says there's
: no such word.)
...strangely, I can't find my fid now.
--
Huey
GrapeApe
I'm getting fid up with all the guessing.
I vote for one of the early guesses, that it is short for "Fitzgerald Kennedy".
Kevin Flynn
I inquired of the Boston public works department and received the
following email from Suzanne DeCoste, spokeswoman for the department:
"The name Fid Kennedy Ave. honors the memory of Thomas "Fid" Kennedy,
1906-1961, a life long South Boston resident for the International
Longshoreman's Union, Local 800 for 18 years. Fid, who started work
on the
docks at age 14, contributed greatly to the welfare of longshoremen
who
presently work the docks at the Park."