Our elders were on to something...

Hello World...

I was just thinking about some of the vocabulary we used and were taught by our elders.  Little did we know we were sometimes speaking the Queen's English and using words from other countries.  You don't believe me?  Raise your hand if you ever sat on a Divan this has a turkish/european origin.  Did I get your attention?  Raise your hand if you ever put your clothes in the highboy , this is 17th to 18th century fancy furniture that some of use grew up with and didn't even know what we had.  Isn't it neat how the words were passed down?  How 'bout when you are sitting on the commode?  Here's the twist to this word.  Commode originates from France to describe a piece of furniture but the good ole US of A (ex-colonists) decided to use it to describe the toilet.  But not too many folks use it anymore.  I find myself using the word from time to time but not much.  One word that i couldn't find that I remember my step-grt-grandmother (Elnora Turknett) use it the garrey, also known as the porch.  I'm not quite sure if it's "garrett" or "garrey" but I knew what she meant.  I'm unsure of it's origin.  Oh yes and one more the "ice box" and the "fridgidaire" were terms we used as kids for the "refrigerator".  Ice Box ( i do know) because at one point people used to literally get blocks of ice and put it in to keep food from spoiling due to having no electricity.  And the term "fridgidaire" was actually a name brand of a refrigerator, apparently very popular to the point that people used that term to describe the piece of equipment.  Kind of like how we'll say "kleenex" versus tissue paper no matter what brand it is.  Simply because people will know what you're asking for.

There are lot of languages that I wish were passed down that we'd be the better for at this present-day for knowing.  Like patoi and creole.  A lot of us Texans have roots in Louisiana as well as whatever tribal blood got mixed in there and there are so many cultural habits and terms that got lost because people felt it was something to be ashamed of.  There is a part of me that almost feels lost because I don't know anything about parts of my background.

Well anyway, even though big mama, granny, papa, big daddy sometimes didn't have the GREAT education that some people have today, they were alot smarter in some cases and no matter what you say, they were on to something.  It's too bad we're losing it.  I think we have literally gotten too big for our britches...obviously since our young men, kings of the kingdom now choose to wear them tight and below their butts.

*peace and blessings*