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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsA family word mystery finally solved.
I had actually posted about this a couple years ago.Could not find the source of the word.
my Grandma used the term "red up the dishes" meaning to soak them in the sink for later washing.
Her folks were from Ohio, , came over from England in mid-1700's.
Well, it may be that she had heard the word as..."red"...... when the actual word was "ret", which is a term meaning to soak a plant to soten the outer husk,specifically related to the process of using hemp and flax as a fiber.
You have to "ret" the plant, by a proces known as "retting".
I found it here:
From: Mercer Jackson (mercerATjmjackson.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ret
https://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail211.html
And many of her expressions are also found on this page of Ottawa Valley Expressions ( Ottawa Canada)
which was also settled by the English
http://ogradys.ca/opeongo/ov_expressions.html
intaglio
(8,170 posts)Orrex
(63,088 posts)Lots of gems in that region's linguistic heritage!
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Finding words used by my family is like tracing their generational journey across the country.
fascinating.
My great great grandmother's family settled in New Jersey, but only for about 20 years, then they all moved to Ohio until 1906, then on to Washingotn state.
That word still comes out of my mouth occassionally; when I'm back home with the family.
Metatron
(1,258 posts)I never found much info searching on the etymology of the term over the years. My grandmother also was born in Ohio and her family came over from England in the early 1800s, I believe. She and my mom used to say "redding up the table," meaning to clear the table before washing the dishes. Really interesting info, I'll be sending this around to my relatives. Thank you so much, dixiegrrrrl!
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Lol..even as I type, there are dishes in sink soaking, where I redded up after lunch.
Another word I found of old origins was "being on tenderhooks".
"tenderhooks" is how I heard it but the word is actually "tenterhooks".
From Wiki:
Tenterhooks are hooks in a device called a tenter. Tenters were originally large wooden frames which were used as far back as the 14th century in the process of making woollen cloth. After a piece of cloth was woven, it still contained oil from the fleece and some dirt. A craftsperson called a fuller (also called a tucker or walker) cleaned the woollen cloth in a fulling mill, and then had to dry it carefully or the woollen fabric would shrink. To prevent this shrinkage, the fuller would place the wet cloth on a tenter, and leave it to dry outdoors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenterhooks
don'tcha just love old words???
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)T me, red up the dishes meant gather them up and clean them. Because no dish was ever left to soak in my house.
1monster
(11,012 posts)my childhood years.
The term "redd up" was always said to be derived from the German word "redden" which means to tidy. However, some now say that it comes from old English and even Scottish.
Given the heavy German population ( and later influx of Irish), I tend toward the German etymology explanation...
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Apparently some German IS in the early family tree, come to find out.
I am not entirely certain if Gram used the "red up the dishes" meaning to clear the table
or to soak the dishes, since both were part of the process.
I just know she always said it in context of telling us, the grandkids, to do it.
I never heard her say "I will red up the dishes"
nor did she use the phrase about any other topic...like tidying a room.
fascinating, these old family terms.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)Thank you for the explanation; in my family, that 'word' was synonymous with 'clean'. We always thought it was of Pennsylvania Dutch origin.
3catwoman3
(23,822 posts)...from a favorite book from my middle childhood. It was a book about a Quaker family, called They Loved To Laugh. Based on letters from a real family. The family took in a teenaged girl who had lost both parents to illness. The Quaker mother character often spoke of "redding up the kitchen."