Well attestedNamed from the place
Spenard divorce
noun · first attested 20th century
The phrase entered Anchorage speech during a murder trial in 1959.
Alaskan slang for killing one's spouse instead of divorcing.
61.1886°N -149.9064°W · Q7575934
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 20th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Spenard
- In English
Spenard divorce
Spenard, a neighborhood on the southwest side of Anchorage, had a run of spousal killings in the late 1950s and early 1960s, at a time when Alaska had no no fault divorce. The trial of Regina Bowker, who shot her husband in their Spenard trailer in 1959, pushed the phrase into general use. The neighborhood is named for Joe Spenard, an early settler who ran a lumber camp there.
United States
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