As published in the Waterfront Press Regional September 10, 2009 -
Last week I had an opportunity to dig through the archives at the Waterfront Press Regional looking for story ideas for this column. As I gently lifted the first stack onto my desk, I revelled in the faint smell of dust that clung to the seemingly ancient pages. The corners of the paper were curled with age and starting to discolour. In awe, I scanned the first page, noting the words that were used to report the events of the day, the clothing, the hairstyles . . . wait a minute . . . this paper is dated 1979! If this is old, then I must be antique! It begs the question, “What is old”? The vintage evening bag that I purchased for $10 that dates to 1898, or the 1950’s pillbox style hat and veil – now those items are old! But how about last week’s casserole, that went out this morning? Well that is old too. I turned to the Internet for some help:
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age; "his mother is very old"; "a ripe old age" of long duration; not new; "old tradition"; "old friendships"; "old money"
old(a): (used for emphasis) very familiar; "good old boy"; "same old story"
skilled through long experience; "the older soldiers"
erstwhile(a): belonging to some prior time; "erstwhile friend"; "our former glory"; of a very early stage in development; "Old English is also called Anglo Saxon"; past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old')
previous(a): just preceding something else in time or order; "the previous owner"; "my old house was larger"
Interesting but not very helpful if you want to know how many days (or years) have to pass before something is considered old. Perhaps an examination of the definition of history will provide clarification. History is defined as:
· a record or narrative description of past events; "a history of France”
· the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings; "he teaches Medieval history"; "history takes the long view"
· the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past to the present and even into the future; "all of human history"
· all that is remembered of the past as preserved in writing; a body of knowledge; "the dawn of recorded history"; "from the beginning of history"
So I guess having lived for a relatively long time (let’s face it, I’m not new); being very familiar and possessing skill through experience and knowledge of past times, although not erstwhile, I enjoy a nice cup of tea with a narrative description of past events and have been known to interpret the continuum of events from past to present. Welcome to herstory, a weekly column of the historical people, places and events that have formed our community; interspersed with my own quaint, curious and sometimes plain quirky digressions.
