August 5, 2008

"Wholesome" Reading

This summer we've started reading chapter books to Noelle. I started with books I remember reading during my childhood, deeming them appropriate for a young listener. We've read the first Little House on the Praire book, a few Boxcar Children books and we just started a Betsy Tacey book (I didn't read this as a kid, but they were recommended to me and Meg Ryan recommends them in "You've Got Mail" - very credible, right?). All of these books were written several generations ago and it amazes me how much the English language has changed in the past 80 years. Here are some translations I've had to make so Noelle knows what I'm saying:

  • "queer" = "strange" (I'm surprised how common this word use to be) "queer dress," "queer noise," "queer look" etc...
  • "gay" = "happy"
  • "Mrs. Ray was moved by the entreaty." = "Mrs. Ray was moved by the question."
  • "..two starched petticoats which were buttoned to a muslin underwaist over woolen underwear." = "...two starched petticoates...over underwear." (I'm just thankful I don't have to know what this is)
  • "To please the little boy named Tom she let them all speak pieces." = Uhhh.. "To please the little boy named Tom she let them all say a poem."

And the one that stumped me the most.......
  • "Betsy flew to the closet, but she could not find her pussy hood." = I have NO idea.

5 comments:

Ron and Rachel said...

Janelle, A friend gave Anna the entire Curious George series which we took time reading over the summmer. I noticed the same exact thing. The word "gay" was used very often and they also explained how George would tie things around other characters necks (not so safe to suggest with young kids in my opinion). Yes, the english language has changed a lot! Do you find Noelle is understanding the books? We did Charlotte's Web with Anna (she'll be three in a few weeks) and I'm not sure how much she understood but she never once complained about listening and sat on my lap completely focused the entire time I read!

The Talberts said...

I think I ripped a stitch laughing at the last one. I have no idea, either.

Eric said...

Well, normally I'd suggest you Google it, but in this case I'm not so sure that's a good idea.

Lee and Candace said...

Wow! I'm seriously going to have to take lessons from you cause you did WAY better than I would have. I think I probably just would have skipped those sentences:)

Anonymous said...

?? A hood with kittens on it??? I actually looked it up in the dictionary and yeah, it wasn't there.