Language

Penny Zeller and A Giveaway!

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Wild West Vocabulary

Howdy, y’all! I’m so thrilled to be a guest again on Petticoats & Pistols. Today, I’ll be chatting about my latest faith-filled Christian historical romance, Heart of Courage, which takes place in 1885 in the Montana territory.

In the opening scene, widow LilyBeth Engle is traveling from Ohio to the Montana Territory with her two-year-old son, Otis, in tow. (Disclaimer: Be prepared—Otis will steal your heart as he did mine).

With nothing but the clothes on her back, the baby in her arms, her Bible, and a skill for sewing beautiful dresses, LilyBeth determines to succeed with the Lord’s help and dogged determination. A few meager coins—all that she has to her name—will take her cross country aboard a train and then a stagecoach to a small town called Hilltop.

LilyBeth is a seamstress who not only sews dresses and mends clothing items, but also sketches new designs, which she uses as inspirations for her creations. She longs to own a sewing machine again, like the one that was taken from her through no fault of her own while living in Cincinnati. But first, she must find a place to live and a storefront for her seamstress business.

When she meets handsome and rugged rancher, Barrett McCallum, she has no idea what an instrumental role he will play in assisting her pursuit of that dream. But will she have the courage to succeed? What happens when Barrett begins to fall in love with LilyBeth? Will she have the courage to allow herself to love again with so much at stake?

Historical novels always include plentiful research, not only for time-accurate settings and clothing, but also for words. Heart of Courage was no exception. I spent a fair amount of time looking up words to make sure they were in use at the time. I’m always amazed by the words that were (and weren’t!) in usage. Take the word “sappy”, for example. According to my research, this word, for the meaning used in the book, was first used in that instance in the 1660s. Other such words:

Driveway-1845

Personalized-1741

Casserole-1708

Personality-15th century

What about words originating in 1885, the year Heart of Courage takes place? A quick scan of Merriam-Webster indicates that the following words (not used in the story) were also in use beginning in that year: clipboard, finger painting, multiple sclerosis, ruckus, and saccharin.

Courage, a key word in my book due to the obstacles LilyBeth must overcome and the bravery with which to do so, was first used in the 14th century.

Not only must historical romance authors string together words, but they must string together accurate words far beyond “oblige”, “reckon”, and “courtship”. Words such as teacher’s pet, teenager, meet-cute, haywire, hootenanny, and shrinking violet were in use beginning in the 1900s.

What word above surprised you the most? For me, it was haywire and hootenanny because those words just sound…old-fashioned.

Heart of Courage is a tender, heartwarming, and uplifting tale.

 

*****GIVEAWAY*****

In Heart of Courage, LilyBeth’s son, Otis, names a dog “Cow”. (I warned you this little boy would steal your heart!) What is the funniest pet name you’ve ever seen, heard, or named your own pet? Leave me a comment for your chance to win a copy of Heart of Courage. (U.S. residents only, please). Can’t wait to read your answers!

 

Thank you for joining me today. Before you go, be sure to grab your free copy of An Unexpected Arrival by going here.

 

Penny Zeller is known for her stories of faith-filled happily ever afters with tender romance, humor, and memorable characters.  She is the author of nearly thirty books in the Christian subgenres of historical romance, romantic suspense, and contemporary romance. She resides with her husband and two daughters in small-town America and loves to connect with her readers at http://www.pennyzeller.com.

 

What Exactly is a Maverick? Are You One?

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I know you’ve all heard of the word Maverick. Politicians are fond of saying they’re one.

What does the term that was first used in 1867 mean? Independent minded happens to be the definition.

But do you know the origin?

I didn’t until I recently got an Electric Co-Op magazine out of my mailbox and read about Texan Samuel Maverick.

 

Wouldn’t you know he’d be from Texas? Seems we gave the world just a little bit of history.  🙂

Anyway….Samuel Maverick (1803-1870) was a lawyer, politician, land baron, and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He was at the Alamo with the defenders but slipped out the day before it fell in a desperate bid to find reinforcements. Of course, we know what happened.

And when General Santa Anna again sent troops back into Texas six years later to try to retake it, Samuel and sixty others was captured and forced to march by foot down to Veracruz, Mexico. He was kept chained and given little food. Although he was offered his freedom several times in exchange for publicly stating that Texas belonged to Mexico, he refused. They finally released him and he returned to Texas, bringing his chains with him.

He served twice as mayor of San Antonio and several terms in the Texas House of Representatives, once opposing Sam Houston over a bill and won. He amassed land holdings amounting to something like 110,000 acres.

But the Maverick term came from refusal to brand his cattle, claiming that it was cruel and inflicted pain. Thus, any unbranded cow became known as a maverick. Because of his staunch refusal to brand, he couldn’t protect his herd from thieves, including his neighbors, and they stole from him left and right until he lost almost all of them. He died in 1870 at the age of 67… a stubborn maverick to the end.

Do any mavericks come to mind? Senator John McCain was known for being one. I’m giving away an e-copy of The Cowboy Who Saved Christmas to one lucky commenter.

 

As you know, we have Cowboys and Mistletoe coming up November 29 to December 2! There’s a ton of $10 gift cards to be had AND a Grand Prize of $120!! Everyone please come and play our Mad Lib game! It’ll be so much fun. AND you have lots of chances to win!! So mark your calendars and come over each of the four days to increase your odds of winning.

I’m Like, Totally Your Huckleberry

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Lots of us have had tough years personally before, but not in my lifetime have we as a human race had such a difficult year. If you’re like me, New Year’s held a new significance and you’re thankful to see 2020 in the rearview mirror. Hopeful for 2021, I tried writing about the activities I desperately miss and appreciate more since COVID-19. I hope this year to return to treating myself to a mani-pedi (I’m so relieved it’s closed toe shoe season!), getting a haircut every six to eight weeks instead of twice a year, going to lunch with friends and sitting close enough we don’t need walkie-talkies to converse, and window shopping. Somehow instead of being the hopeful post I intended, I found myself needing a break from thinking about COVID and the harsh realities it’s brought crashing down on our lives.

Also needing to laugh, I turned to a book I discovered in Glassboro, New Jersey visiting my son. When the title caught my eye, This Is Like, Totally a Quote Book, I had to open it. The dedication had me LOLing. “This book is dedicated to the eminent individuals whose words are parodied herein. We’d like to imagine each of them, living or dead, getting a chuckle out of it. We only wish we could invite them all to dinner. * That would be, like, totally an amazing party. *Except maybe Hannibal Lecter.”

 

 

The book takes famous quotes and inserts the phrase like, totally. Having been part of the generation that thought those words were so cool, I couldn’t stop reading. The next thing I knew I was reading quotes to my husband. So today, in hopes of making you smile and showing how adding two words can change a sentence, I’ve tweaked some famous quotes.

  • The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in like, totally rising every time we fall.” -Nelson Mandela
  • The way to get started is to like, totally quit talking and begin doing. -Walt Disney
  • Life is what happens like, when you’re busy totally making other plans. -John Lennon
  • To be or like, totally not to be. -William Shakespeare
  • When you reach the end of your rope, like tie a knot in it and totally hang on. -Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but like, totally by the seeds that you plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson
  • It is during our darkest moments that we must like, totally focus to see the light. -Aristotle

Here’s some modified western/cowboy sayings from grammar.yourdictionary.com.

  • Some cowboys have like, totally too much tumbleweed in their blood to settle down.
  • When you’re throwin’ your weight around, be like, totally ready to have it thrown around by someone else.
  • Always like, totally drink upstream from the herd.
  • Never ask how stupid someone is ‘cause they’ll like, turn around and totally show you.
  • The only good reason to ride a bull is to like, totally meet a nurse.

And my favorite…

  • Never like, jump a barbed wire fence totally naked.

I hope these changes to famous quotes made you chuckle. To be entered in the random drawing for today’s giveaway of the sparkly Peace sign and a signed copy of Home on the Ranch:  Family Ties share a quote and like, totally parody it in This Is Like, Totally a Quote Book style. Here’s to 2021. May your year be blessed, and wishing you like, totally the best year ever!

 

Fall off that horse and come on in!

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In 2018, I wrote on western, and particularly Texas, sayings. Then all of you commented with others I hadn’t heard. You had me laughing pretty much all day. My favorite came from fellow filly, Pam Crooks. “He’s foolish enough not to realize he shouldn’t jump a barbed wire fence naked.”

Pam’s saying reminded me of my four Wishing Texas Series heroes, because that’s the kind of friends they are. When one is being a jerk, the others call him on it. As my heroes aren’t traditional cowboys riding on the ranch, I often add western or Texas sayings to add to their western character. I had to find a way to use Pam’s saying. I’m writing Book 4 now, To Marry A Texas Cowboy, and Zane’s best friend says to him, “I suppose you think jumping a barbed wire fence naked is a good idea too.”

As I sat to write today’s post, I realized I needed a laugh. With everything going on in the world, I figured you could too. So, here are some sayings I found but didn’t have space for last time. I hope they make you smile and maybe even chuckle.

Might was well. Can’t dance, never could sing, and it’s too wet to plow.

So crooked you can’t tell from his tracks if he’s coming or going.

If I say a hen dips snuff, you can look under her wing for the can.

He’d argue with a wooden Indian.

He’s the only hell his mama ever raised.

He may not be a chicken, but he has his henhouse ways.

So dry the trees are bribing the dogs.

Better to keep your mouth shut and seem a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

He’s got a big hole in his screen door.

She’s two sandwiches short of a picnic.

He always draws the best bull.

He could sit on the fence and the birds would feed him.

My newest foster Bella, to make you smile!

If a trip around the world cost a dollar, I couldn’t get to the Oklahoma line.

He’d steal his mama’s egg money.

He could talk the gate off its hinges.

She speaks ten words a second, with gusts to fifty.

You were too hard to raise to take chances.

Anytime you happen to pass my house, I’d sure appreciate it.

You smell like you want to be left alone.

If brains were leather, he couldn’t saddle a flea.

He couldn’t hit the floor if he fell out of bed.

Looks like he was pulled through a knothole backwards.

There’s two theories to arguin’ with a woman. Neither one works.

To be entered in today’s random drawing for the scarf, car air freshener and a copy of Home On the Ranch: Colorado Rescue, leave a comment about your favorite western saying. If you don’t have a favorite, tell me which saying above spoke to you the most. Thanks for sliding off and letting your saddle cool while you spent some time with me today. Stay safe until the next time we meet around the corral. 

 

 

Parlor or Living Room? Supper or Dinner? What the Heck?

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Blame my curious mind for this post. When did people start calling a parlor or drawing room a living room?

First, let’s start with the meaning.

PARLOR – A sitting room in a private house where the family received visitors. This is a dated word that we no longer use in this context but was the common term until the 1900s. It was known as the “death room” and was where families laid out dead relatives as was common practice in times past. I can’t imagine this! CREEPY! And they took pictures of the dead people in their casket!! Double CREEPY!

 

DRAWING ROOM – An archaic word for a very formal sitting room and could be upstairs or the main floor where a person entertained visitors.

RECEPTION ROOM – Usually refers to a hotel, churches or anyplace besides a private home.

LIVING ROOM – An informal setting in a private home where the family welcomes visitors.

 

So, when did a parlor become a living room?

Inquiring minds want to know. It all changed by the end of World War I when funeral homes started taking care of the dead and they started calling the place where they set the caskets funeral parlors.

In 1910, the Ladies Home Journal came out with an article changing home parlors to living rooms. It’s an informal space where families gather and hang out. It became a “Lively” room and no more dedicated to death.

Large houses sometimes have more than one—both a formal and an informal.

 

Now…When did supper change to dinner?

The Merriam and Webster Dictionary says the last meal of the day changed names with the rise of industrialization and workers were not home for the midday meal they called dinner. (Psst, I still do by the way.) Thus, dinner slid to the last meal of the day and lunch became the noontime meal.

But…Is it an uppity thing? I never hear rich folks say supper. So, was it was a division between those who had and those who had less? 

Whatever the reason was, I just want to point out that the Bible says the Lord’s supper – not the Lord’s dinner.

Now, what’s for dessert? I’m hungry and I might eat in the living room.

So what are your thoughts on all this? Do you have a parlor or living room? Eat supper or dinner?

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!!! Hope you’re wearing green!