My grandmother's nickname was "Granny Apple." She was born and raised in a large Catholic family in the state of Washington until marrying my grandfather and moving to Southern California to raise her own large family.
She made the best apple pies. I tried to duplicate it this past week, but I wish she was still alive to show me the tricks as my crust turned out a little soggy. But thinking about her got me to remembering a funny thing she used to say to us girls, "Go sit on the davenport until supper is ready." Do you know what a davenport is? A couch or maybe you call it a sofa. How about supper? Apparently, dinner was a large lunch and supper was a light meal at the end of the day.
Years ago my boss would have his wife come to the office and help out when we were overbooked and she used to call her clutch or purse a "handbag." I've used handbag ever since. She also used "kindly" always instead of "please."
Then I remember hearing, "head on over to the secretary" which is a desk to write at. Now, we'd just whip out our laptop. When you had to telephone someone, they would say "I'll pick up the horn" or "ring me." Now, a lot of us just text. Speaking of telephones, did you have a party line? My parents had one as recently as 30 years ago when they first moved out to Fish Springs. Twenty-three years ago a second-grade boy needed to use my telephone and he didn't know how to use it, it was a dial phone.
Maybe this one became popular because of Bruce Springsteen. Do you remember when you were cool, and they'd call you "boss"? I was watching a movie over the weekend and as I got up I was walking crooked. I told Jenee I had a "hitch in my get along."
My dad used to give us instructions that would sound something like "move all the pickle weed to the trash cans over yonder."
There are certainly lots of words in the English language that have been evolving over the years to sound more correct. Here's one that my cousin stole from Larry the Cable Guy, "get 'er done." One I haven't heard here in Northern Nevada, "hot dang." I guess if I pick on the south a little more it would be "heaven's to Betsy," "busting someone's chops" or "old fogey." There are certainly lots of words and phrases in the English language that have been evolving over the years to sound more correct.
These are just the little things I thought about over the Thanksgiving weekend hanging out with family and good friends. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and stay safe.
Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.
