AWAD - Goldilocks
They have been around for thousands of years. They are called fairy tales, even though most don’t have any fairies. Nor do they have anything to do with fairs. The term comes to us from French conte de fées (fairy tales). French fairy tales apparently did include fairies.
A better term might be folk tales that include talking animals with a sprinkling of magic and enchantment. We have the term “fairy-tale ending” which implies a happily-ever-after, but what we have these days is really a sanitized version of the stories. Originally, fairy tales rarely had a fairy-tale ending, a reflection of hard life in those days.
After years of telling and retelling, these stories have left a mark on the language. Many of the characters have stepped out from the pages of the books and walked into the language. This week we’ll meet five terms coined after fairy-tale characters.
As you might've guessed, today's word comes from Goldilocks, the golden-haired girl in the fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. In the story, she visits a bear house and chooses Baby Bear’s chair, bed, and porridge because they are just right. Papa Bear’s porridge is too hot, Mama Bear’s too cold, for example. Earliest documented use: 1949. The story was first published in 1837. The earliest documented use in the literal sense of the word is from 400 years earlier.
Did you know? The word is often seen in astronomy, as the Goldilocks zone, meaning an area that’s at just the right distance from a star for a planet there to support life.
Learn more at: wordsmith.org/words/goldilocks.html
AWAD - Goldilocks
They have been around for thousands of years. They are called fairy tales, even though most don’t have any fairies. Nor do they have anything to do with fairs. The term comes to us from French conte de fées (fairy tales). French fairy tales apparently did include fairies.
A better term might be folk tales that include talking animals with a sprinkling of magic and enchantment. We have the term “fairy-tale ending” which implies a happily-ever-after, but what we have these days is really a sanitized version of the stories. Originally, fairy tales rarely had a fairy-tale ending, a reflection of hard life in those days.
After years of telling and retelling, these stories have left a mark on the language. Many of the characters have stepped out from the pages of the books and walked into the language. This week we’ll meet five terms coined after fairy-tale characters.
As you might've guessed, today's word comes from Goldilocks, the golden-haired girl in the fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. In the story, she visits a bear house and chooses Baby Bear’s chair, bed, and porridge because they are just right. Papa Bear’s porridge is too hot, Mama Bear’s too cold, for example. Earliest documented use: 1949. The story was first published in 1837. The earliest documented use in the literal sense of the word is from 400 years earlier.
Did you know? The word is often seen in astronomy, as the Goldilocks zone, meaning an area that’s at just the right distance from a star for a planet there to support life.
Learn more at: wordsmith.org/words/goldilocks.html