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Learn History Through Fiction: WWI Era Slang

WWI era slang was quite colorful. Some of my favorites (and their meanings) stem from typical adolescent preoccupations, namely sex, cars, and booze: Hayburner (gas-guzzling car); iron (motorcycle); iron one’s shoelaces (go to the restroom); orchid (expensive item); skatey (vulgar, cheap); struggle buggy (car for making out); barney mugging (having sex); mazuma (money); and splifficated (drunk). Discover additional bygone slang expressions in BEHIND THE STORY and read more about popular culture during the WWI era in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

What I’m Reading: The Burning Girl by Claire Messud

My Amazon review of The Burning Girl (Rated 4): Sifting Through the Ashes of Friendship – Claire Messud captures the intensity of pre-adolescent female friendship and the pain that follows its inexplicable dissolution. As Julia, the smart protagonist, puzzles over the loss of her best friend Cassie, at once her soul mate and her opposite, readers glimpse the wise woman Julia will become. One wishes only for a few more singe marks to burn this book into memory.

Learn History Through Fiction: Sugar High

(In honor of Halloween) Candy manufacturers began using corn syrup during WWI because sugar was rationed. Corn syrup was so cheap that they never stopped the substitution. Popular confections during WWI (dubbed “war candies”) were Amalkaka (chocolate-covered animal crackers, perhaps derived from a baby’s pronunciation of the popular plain cookies) and GooGoo Cluster (a mound of caramel, marshmallow nougat, peanuts, and milk chocolate). Its shape was harder to wrap than conventional rectangular or square candy bars of the day, and it was the first time multiple elements were mass-produced in a retail candy. Read more about WWI-era history and popular culture in On the Shore (see NOVELS) and go to BEHIND THE STORY (03/06/17 post) to learn about other candies invented in the 1800s that are still with us today.

Learn History Through Fiction: Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

New York City’s Grand Central Terminal (opened in 1913) has the world’s largest Tiffany glass clock, surrounded by sculptures of Minera, Hercules, and Mercury. It is 48 feet high with a circumference of 13 feet. The four-sided clock has a secret door that leads to the ticket booth. Read more about New York City landmarks at the turn of the last century in On the Shore (see NOVELS) and the city’s historical events and places in BEHIND THE STORY.

Learn History Through Fiction: Before Today’s Trendy Food Carts

On New York City’s Lower East Side in the early 1900s, 2,500 pushcart peddlers haggled and sold every type of goods imaginable, including shirt collars and shoelaces, pots and pans, and vegetables and pretzels. Read more about the Lower East Side at the turn of the last century in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

Learn History Through Fiction: Women Light Up in WWI

Women smoking became less taboo as they took over men’s jobs in WWI. Cigarettes were manufactured and marketed expressly for ladies. One early brand was Milo Violets, which was advertised as “Delicately scented gold tip cigarettes for the discerning woman.” Another was Murad Turkish cigarettes. One ad featured a ringed hand holding a cigarette with the tagline line: “Which is the jewel?” Next thing you know, women would want to vote! Read more about women’s history during this era in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

What I’m Reading: The Mother I Imagined, the Mom I Knew: A Hybrid Memoir by Paul Alan Fahey

My Amazon review of The Mother I Imagined, the Mom I Knew: A Hybrid Memoir by Paul Alan Fahey (Rated 5): Turbulent and Touching – Paul Fahey’s hybrid memoir – an interweaving of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry – recaps his fierce, fractious, but ultimately fulfilling relationship with his mother. Fahey takes readers on a lifelong journey from their nomadic existence in his childhood to their memorable travels in Africa (when he was in the Peace Corps) to their truce when his mother was battling terminal cancer. Fahey is at once honest and compassionate.

Learn History Through Fiction: An Alarming 25:1 Ratio of Losses

Because the U.S. entered WWI late (04/06/1917), Navy ships never engaged directly with the German fleet. The first U.S. victory (of sorts), off Mine Head in Ireland, occurred when a German U-boat (U-61) fired a torpedo at the USS Cassin and the crew kept the Cassin afloat, i.e., a “victory” in that, while we didn’t win, at least we didn’t lose the ship. Over the course of the war, German U-boats destroyed 5,000 Allied vessels but only 199 Germans submarines were lost, an alarming 25:1 ratio of losses. Read more about WWI history and its effect on immigrant families back home in On the Shore (see NOVELS).

What I’m Reading: Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander

My Amazon review of Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander (Rated 5) – Three Unlikely Love Stories. Nathan Englander’s brilliant rumination on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unfolds in three hopeless love stories: an off-the-record prisoner and his guard; a caretaker and her comatose General; and, more conventionally, a man and woman on either side of the political and geographical divide. Englander challenge readers to accept the moral ambiguity of his characters’ actions. This is a book of questions, not answers, most significantly: Is love enough to justify dreams of peace?

Learn History Through Fiction: If Women Wear the Pants …

As women took over men’s jobs in WWI, worries abounded about what women would “threaten” to do next. History evolves but essentially repeats itself in every generation. Read more about women’s history during this era in On the Shore (see NOVELS). Read about the book http://www.vineleavespress.com/on-the-shore-by-ann-s-epstein.html and watch the book trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXKrHdL59Hs&feature=youtu.be.