At this point you’re probably wondering what etymology has to do with Bill Bryson’s latest book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, and the answer is simple. Everything! In At Home Bryson tracks the etymology (I’m practicing using my new word) of various rooms and features of houses, and the stuff commonly found in them. Specifically he is writing about his home, a former Church of England rectory built in the 19th century. In the process we learn useless minutia such as why cabinet refers both to the advisors to a President and a box full of medicine and cosmetics on the wall of a bathroom, and why toilet water refers both to perfume and the contents of the commode.
In the hands of just about anyone else the topic could be stupefyingly dull, but Bill Bryson can describe drying paint and have you hanging on his every word and laughing yourself to tears. At least that is my opinion, but not everyone agrees, especially with regard to At Home. My husband said he found it dry.
And not everyone becomes as titillated as I at learning that parks arose from a need for more places to bury people. So graveyards were moved from churches to open areas with lots of trees that attracted people. Next thing you know, Charles Darwin is sent about to gather more interesting plants for the cemetery “parks,” which as you know led to a change in how we look at our very existence! Bryson’s diatribe about parks evolved from his exposé on the home garden, or what us “amerkins” call the yard.The whole issue of dressing rooms and vanities brought up a plethora of puzzling and repugnant stories. For example, Beau Brummell (pictured to the right - who I’ve heard referenced but never really knew who he was) was sort of the Paris Hilton of his time (1800’s). Apparently, he dressed so elegantly that he “attracted a daily audience that included the Prince of Wales, three dukes, a marquis, two earls and others who assembled in his dressing room to watch him bathe, dress and ready himself for a day of looking utterly smashing.” That’s just weird. Click on Read More Below...
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