ice box (was: obsolescene [was church key])

[Peter A. McGraw]

We never had the kind of ice box where an ice man came to replenish the
ice, but we always called our refrigerator an ice box.  I switched to
"fridge" only much later in life.  Like Alison, I still catch myself saying
it sometimes, and producing "fridge" often requires a pause for
"translation."

Peter Mc.

--On Sunday, February 27, 2005 12:02 PM -0500 sagehen
<sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:

>> 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
>> ~~~~~~~~~~
> We, too, had an icebox, which was retired to the back porch and used as a
> cupboard when we got a monitor-top GE refrigerator.  I still hear myself
> saying "icebox" instead of "fridge," at times.  "Frigidaire" wasn't the
> the GE brand...might have been Westinghouse's (or poss. GM's?).
> The iceman continued to visit our street through most of the '30s.  The
> sign the householder put in the front window had the amounts wanted
> printed in different orientations; it was turned so that the one wanted
> was at the top.
> A. Murie



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************