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HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW ENGLISH ? by Buck Conner
While at an encampment in Missouri I had the pleasure of camping with some gentlemen from the British Isles; after a few hours of having to ask several times what the meaning was of some of their terms, I decided to write the more commonly used ones down.
WORD/PHRASE USED IN MEANING IN
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW ENGLISH ?
After looking at some of these terms, I decided to do a little research as to there dates and if correct for earlier periods. French fries, potato chips and popsicle sounded modern by today's standards or after the turn of the century.
Low and behold, in Great Britain these terms have been used for several centuries, as in Europe, the modern terms we use are from our last century; the old term was used in the east and seems to have changed around the time of the Civil War.
Ground round, hamburger bun; late 1860's saw butcher and bake shops referring to their products with such terms, the New World has become modern.
French fries, potato chips; 1870-1880 term used in New York advertising and was popular though-out the country by 1890.
Popsicle; a popular term used in eastern cities, as vendors (hawkers) invaded the streets in the1840's with wild flavors like grape, chocolate and orange. An interesting fact was in England fifty years before, ice was crushed, a mixture of "Havana Brown" sugar and water was poured over the crushed ice, then place back in the ice house until frozen. It was served in a bowl, the stick as we know it was a century later addition.
It seems the more research one does, the less one knows with information and material coming to the surface, everyday is an adventure in doing research ! If you sit back and think about it, we know very little when compared to the father's of our country, look at what all some of them were into, that's another story.
