Grandma Watches Language Carefully When Grandchildren Come To Visit: Is She “Cool” or just “Quaint?”
Posted: Sunday, August 21, 2011
by Fran Larson
http://www.franniesquotes.com/
"We can't go to the mall until I find my billfold," I explained to my granddaughter, Alayna.
“What is a billfold?”
I was dumbfounded. I didn’t realize my vocabulary was not vogue and up-to-date. I then began to wonder what other words are archaic and no longer in use.
This summer I was delighted and surprised that our grandchildren, Zach (11) and Alayna (12) still wanted to come visit Jim and I. At first I panicked and then I remembered we had the Wii games, computer games and we could take them to see our local skydivers. I wanted everything to be perfect and didn’t want them to be bored.
I had already erred because I had asked Alayna to be sure and bring her “sneakers.” Apparently, “sneakers” is an old-fashioned term (although I finally did get the point across to her as to exactly what I was talking about.) It seems the correct term would be “tennis shoes” even is the shoes in question are not designed for use on a tennis court. If my athletic shoes allow me to “sneak” someplace without making noise and are unsuitable for playing tennis, shouldn’t they be called “sneakers?”
We took Alayna and Zach to see “Captain America.” I made sure I didn’t have a slip of the tongue and invite them to go to the “show.” (I still like the sound of the word, “show.” It conjures up vivid memories of a long Saturday afternoon filled with a comedy, a serial, the news, cartoons and a double feature.) On the way to the movies, we explained to Zach and Alayna how we used to go on Saturdays for 9 cents.
I began to think of other words that would be completely foreign to Zach and Alayna. I overheard them talking about some of their teachers and reminded myself not to refer to a teacher or any other adult as a “Fuddy-Duddy” because that would surely bring on hours of laughter.
My mind began to drift to my childhood. Some days my mother would say to me, “You must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed because you are so “cross” today.” Who uses the word “cross” anymore? “Got out of bed on the wrong side is from an old superstition that said it was bad luck to put the left foot down when getting out of bed.
Other words that my grandchildren’s generation would not understood would be prowler, mimeograph machine or pocketbook. I must remember not to sarcasticly whine, “that’s just ducky” when things go wrong.
When Alayna was about 4 years old, apparently she began to repeat to her mother the word, “Upsy Daisy.” Although my daughter didn’t complain to me, she had a smile on her face when she said, “Alayna is now saying “Upsy Daisy.” I was shocked to say the least. Why would “Upsy Daisy” be discarded when it is a perfectly logical thing to say when you are lifting something? At least yourdictionary.com recognizes Upsy Daisy. It is described as “”up you go: used playfully or for reassurance, as in lifting a small child.”
· All in all, the week’s visit with Alayna and Zach went off pretty smoothly. They got along with each other really well and I never once heard them say, “mind your own beeswax.”
Jim made them Belgium waffles almost every morning. I overheard Zach phoning his Mom and asking, “could we get a waffle iron? Seems he had never heard of a “waffle iron.”
My favorite day of their visit was the day I made chicken and dumplings. I watched the two of them eating 2nd and 3rd helpings, as I remembered eating Grandma Bobbie's (Jim’s Mom) dumplings. “Chicken and Dumplings” is an inherited word that means comfort, love and Grandma Bobbie.
At last - a word that connects at least 4 generations: Chicken and Dumplings
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Yes Fran, us baby boomers have a language of our own, not entirely understood by young people today. Good article
Language is changing and that's just plain nifty. I enjoyed your neat telling. Awesome to see how things change but don't really. You're the bomb!
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