Parlour or Parlor
Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2022 2:38 am
I had cause today to consider this word. A parlour, from the French parler, to speak, was originally a room in which to converse.
But today we have funeral parlours or beauty parlours or massage parlours and in America, pizza parlors. Not much to do with talking, although I suppose there is nothing stopping you if you want to exchange pleasantries with your barber.
But as a small boy, I remember the front room of my grandparents' very modest house being called the parlour. Of course no-one ever went into it - it was reserved for those special occasions that never ended up being special enough for the room to be used. The best furniture containing never-used crockery was stored here. The door was always shut and we were forbidden from entry lest we cause some mischief and break something precious.
This was all terribly sad on reflection, because the room was never used and the family endured life entirely in the cramped and dismal quarters out the back.
Compare that notion with the pictures from Wikipedia's explanation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlour
I love the idealised picture of the baroque interior, supposedly a parlour.
Not far removed from a boudoir to which the ladies would withdraw after lunch or dinner. I love that boudoir comes also from the French but this time from bouder, to sulk; a sulking room. How civilised is that?
But today we have funeral parlours or beauty parlours or massage parlours and in America, pizza parlors. Not much to do with talking, although I suppose there is nothing stopping you if you want to exchange pleasantries with your barber.
But as a small boy, I remember the front room of my grandparents' very modest house being called the parlour. Of course no-one ever went into it - it was reserved for those special occasions that never ended up being special enough for the room to be used. The best furniture containing never-used crockery was stored here. The door was always shut and we were forbidden from entry lest we cause some mischief and break something precious.
This was all terribly sad on reflection, because the room was never used and the family endured life entirely in the cramped and dismal quarters out the back.
Compare that notion with the pictures from Wikipedia's explanation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlour
I love the idealised picture of the baroque interior, supposedly a parlour.
Not far removed from a boudoir to which the ladies would withdraw after lunch or dinner. I love that boudoir comes also from the French but this time from bouder, to sulk; a sulking room. How civilised is that?