obsolescene [was church key]

[Wilson Gray]

On Feb 25, 2005, at 9:44 PM, James C Stalker wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      obsolescene [was church key]
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> --------
>
>         The “ice box” example opens some interesting connections
> among
> language, metaphor, and technology.  When I was young, we had an ice
> box.
> My father would bring home blocks of ice and place them in the
> appropriate
> compartment, and replace the ice as necessary.

In my day, ice was delivered by the ice man, a system well-attested in
various blues songs through the ''50's. There was a sign that was
placed in a front window to let the ice man know how many pounds of ice
were wanted. I learned "figidaire" first. My grandmother in Texas had a
General Electric frigidaire. When we moved to St. Louis, we at first
couldn't afford a frigidaire. So, we got an icebox.

-Wilson Gray

>   When we had an electric
> machine that manufactured its own ice, I, of course, still called it
> an ice
> box.  That’s what it was. How the ice got in it was immaterial.  In
> time
> brand names (Frigidare) or generic labels based on function
> (refrigerator)
> replaced ice box, just because more people used those terms.  The
> original
> named object has been replaced by other versions, and has become a box
> that
> makes ice rather than a box that holds ice, apparently, a significant
> shift.
> The term has, for the most part, disappeared, although, denotatively,
> it
> needn’t have.  It is still an ice box.
>         Church key takes a different course.  Several posters still
> use them, but
> don’t always call them a “church key.”  I make sure that I have
> one
> around for various reasons.  There are still cans to be opened without
> automatic tops, such as large juice cans, which generally don’t fit
> electric openers, and can be opened with a screw type can opener, but
> that
> is inconvenient. The tool is available in stores, although not always
> readily.  The tool remains, but the name is passing.  The possible
> visual
> physical connection with keys for churches (the e-Bay post) and the
> possible
> metaphoric oxymoron are passing, but the tool lives on.
>         Both terms seem to be disappearing, but for quite different
> reasons.
>
> Jim Stalker
>
> James C. Stalker
> Department of English
> Michigan State University
>