Why are segments of a TV show, etc., called コーナー？


I've heard the word used in phrases like 質問コーナー, but I haven't heard this
usage of "corner" in English. Why is it used this way?




The general sense of "corner" in reference to "a specific area for doing
something" was already well established in the the 1800s. See also Google
NGram viewer for the English phrase _question corner_ , which first appears in
English-language works in Google's corpus as of 1861:

  * [https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=question+corner&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cquestion%20corner%3B%2Cc0](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=question+corner&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cquestion%20corner%3B%2Cc0)

Click the bubble marked **1800-1904** at the bottom of that page to get the
corresponding Google Books search results:

  * [https://www.google.com/search?q=%22question%20corner%22&tbm=bks&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1800,cd_max:1904&lr=lang_en](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22question%20corner%22&tbm=bks&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1800,cd_max:1904&lr=lang_en)

We can see numerous examples there. Many of them are irrelevant, like cases of
_" the [something] in question. Corner ..."_ However, some of them are exactly
the kind of usage we see in the Japanese 質問コーナー, such as [this section of a
1900 edition of _Midland
Schools_](https://books.google.com/books?id=O0FIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA95&dq=%22question+corner%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqnqiO0sDyAhVGHzQIHQvoB_MQ6AEwBnoECAsQAg#v=onepage&q=%22question%20corner%22&f=false),
a publication from Des Moines, Iowa. Or [this section of an 1884 edition of
_Woman's Work for Woman: A Union
Magazine_](https://books.google.com/books?id=K-Yut2Rh6z0C&pg=PA195&dq=%22question+corner%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqnqiO0sDyAhVGHzQIHQvoB_MQ6AEwFnoECBMQAg#v=onepage&q=%22question%20corner%22&f=false).

Sometimes the source English term is simply archaic or unusual in our personal
lects, leading us to think that the Japanese must be 和製英語. That was my first
reaction to learning that パンツ means "underwear", whereas "pants" in my own
sociolect means "trousers". And then I learned that, in standard UK English,
"pants" does indeed mean "underwear". I had to rethink many of my ideas about
"Ingrish" and unexpected meanings for terms.

This use of the term コーナー may be a similar example: ultimately, this appears
to be a borrowing from regular English usage, and not 和製英語.




It must have been derived from the English word used in the sense of a
specific sales area located in a commercial space, as in _kids' corner_.

