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

[Wilson Gray]

I used to wonder whether "Frigidaire" or "refigerator" was the source
of "fridge." After consulting many English-French dictionaries and
seeing many French movies wherein "refrigerator" is translated by
"frigidaire," and the fact that my mother and my grandmother *always*
used "frigidaire" and never "fridge" for any brand of refrigerator, my
vote is for the brand name as the source.

-Wilson

On Feb 28, 2005, at 11:58 AM, Peter A. McGraw wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Peter A. McGraw" <pmcgraw at LINFIELD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: ice box (was: obsolescene [was church key])
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> 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 ************************
>