Where "neck of the woods" comes from
Andrew Norton
Mike Sheehan at the Traverse City Record Eagle blogs gives the scoop on how the phrase "neck of the woods" came about. You always here people (especially the tv weatherman) say stuff like "here is what is happening in your neck of the woods." Do you ever wonder how that phrase came about? Well, I actually have wondered and this morning I stumbled across Mike Sheehan's (I am pretty sure he is not related to anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan ;)) blog with the following explanation.
“Neck†had been used in English since around 1555 to describe a narrow strip of land, usually surrounded by water, based on its resemblance to the neck of an animal. Neck of the woods is a US phrase dating to 1780.
There you have it!