Is It Bigger Than a Breadbox? Ask Your Grandparents |
The objects disappeared. Somehow, the words forgot to leave.
I was doing a crossword puzzle the other day when I came across a clue whose answer was “breadbox.”
I knew immediately what it meant.
How many people under 30 would?
A breadbox, for those requiring historical interpretation, was a container kept on the kitchen counter whose purpose was to hold bread. This was apparently necessary in the years before every kitchen appliance needed Wi-Fi.
And if someone asked, “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” you understood the question perfectly. The breadbox was once a generally accepted unit of measurement, somewhere between a toaster and a Cadillac Coupe DeVille.
That got me thinking about how much of our language comes from objects and customs that have quietly disappeared.
We still use the words. We just don’t always remember where they came from.
We still “dial” a number.
There hasn’t been a dial on most telephones for decades.
Once upon a time, a telephone receiver actually hung on something. Today, when you finish a call, you tap a red circle on a piece of glass.
Not nearly as satisfying as slamming the telephone handset into its cradle.
There was also the “busy signal,” a concept that may require explanation to younger readers.
A busy signal was a series of irritating beeps informing you that the person you were calling was already speaking to somebody else.
That was it. No call........