Community Chat

[Topaz Gem]

Just thought of another one... My parents always called their porch a breezeway.

Back before malls were in existence and everyone shopped downtown, my mother and others in her generation would say "I'm going overstreet", which meant that she was going to the neighboring city's downtown shopping area.

[Mominohio]

I love words, and get very tired of hearing/saying the same ones over and over. Thanks for bringing up some old ones from my past, that I'd nearly forgotten about!

[faeriemoon]

On 7/22/2014 Topaz Gem said:

Just thought of another one... My parents always called their porch a breezeway.

Back before malls were in existence and everyone shopped downtown, my mother and others in her generation would say "I'm going overstreet", which meant that she was going to the neighboring city's downtown shopping area.

We referred to a breezeway as a specific kind of porch. It ran from the front to the back of the house so that the breeze came in one way and out the other. People enjoyed sitting in their breezeways in the evening since no one had air conditioning.

[faeriemoon]

Does anyone remember the "cloak room" at school? I'm not that old, but my elementary school had a cloak room in the back of each classroom. It was for coats, lunches, boots and "rubbers" (which had a whole different meaning back then.)

[Lion]

On 7/22/2014 faeriemoon said:

Does anyone remember the "cloak room" at school? I'm not that old, but my elementary school had a cloak room in the back of each classroom. It was for coats, lunches, boots and "rubbers" (which had a whole different meaning back then.)

I remember "cloak room". That's what the nuns called it at my grade school, along with "lavatory" for the bathroom.

[QueenDanceALot]

My grandmother said ""davenport"".

I always thought it sounded rather elegant.

[SnarkyLips]

On 7/22/2014 faeriemoon said:

Does anyone remember the "cloak room" at school? I'm not that old, but my elementary school had a cloak room in the back of each classroom. It was for coats, lunches, boots and "rubbers" (which had a whole different meaning back then.)

In elementary school we hung our backpacks and coats on hooks in the hallway outside of our room. I thought "cloak room" was more British.

[RainCityGirl]

Yes we have synonyms in our language. We are a nation of many backgrounds, all having specific terms for things. My grandma called a sofa a davenport. My mother's grandmother used the term chesterfield. Sometimes they were brand names. Chifferobe, divan, breakfront, sideboard.....all are various terms for armoire, low sofa, china closet, buffet. That's why the English language is so rich and wonderful. We don't have to rely on one word to cover something.

[Catfancy]

Anybody heard the term ""daveno?""

[kingtut]

We used to call it a davenport when I was young -- I do live in MA -- and I now call it a sofa. I think of a couch as something without a back -- we had what was called a studio couch and it had pillows along the wall but no back. It could be pulled apart to make two single beds -- I remember my uncle and one of his friends used to go to a convention in Boston and used the two parts of the couch.

We called what is now the living room, the front room -- think at one time some people actually had two of these rooms -- actally knew a woman who did -- so the main formal room was the front room -- the same uncle and his wife had a formal living room in front but almost always used the dining room as the living room unless there was company and sometimes even then.

We had a porch outside our living room maybe sometimes called a piazza. My mother and I carried a pocketbook (possibly I now sometimes carry a purse) but certainly never a handbag.

And in western MA where my mother lived as a child and my other relatives still lived, the chocolate things on ice cream were and I guess still are chocolate shots -- not jimmies as in the Boston area.