Elmentary, etc. (for Elementary)

What do you call the school that you go to before junior high or middle school? Elementary, my dear Watson! (Though there are some who prefer to call it grade school or primary school instead.) There are at least two "Elm Tree Elementary" schools in the United States: one in Bentonville, Arkansas, the other in Valley, Nebraska. Elm trees grace many a portal of learning, in fact. ("Elmo" was the beloved 100-year-old elm tree at Brown University that had to be cut down in December 2003 due to Dutch Elm Disease; wood from the felled tree was then incorporated into various campus art projects.) The Mighty Elm also crops up repeatedly throughout English literature. We discovered 13 examples of Elmentary in OhioLINK today (and one of Elementery).

(Elm Grove Primary School, Brighton, September 10, 2005, by Simon Carey, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid