Just A Misunderstanding

William surprised us at the lunch table earlier this summer.

"Did you know that Grandma said 'freakin'?"
He said it carefully and thoughtfully...knowing that I really, really don't like that word.

"No! No she didn't!" I said in defense of my mother-in-law.
I could really not imagine that being something that she would say.

"Oh, yes! I heard her."

"What exactly did she say?" I asked, trying to understand.

"She was looking at Josh and Matthew and said, "Freakin' frack!"

"Josh and Matthew were standing right there?"

"Yep."

And then I burst into laughter!
And laughed even harder when I saw William's surprised expression!

"Grandma was calling Josh and Matthew "Frick and Frack," I explained.

"What is that?!" William asked.
I saw four sets of eyes looking at me for more of an explanation.

"Well...I think that it's a saying that means couples or friends--buddies--that stick together...like saying Tom and Jerry, Lucy and Ethel, Milo and Otis, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo ..."

"Why 'Frick and Frack?'"

I don't really know where that saying began, so...with the help of Google...I looked it up.

"The origin is from a famous partnership of Swiss comedy ice skaters, Werner Groebli and Hans Mauch, whose stage names these were. They came to public fame in the later years of a series of skating spectaculars called Ice Follies, promoted by Eddie Shipstad and his brother Roy, which began in 1936 and ran for almost 50 years. Their association lasted so long, and they were at one time so well known, that their names have gone into the language.

Michael Mauch, the son of Hans, told the origin of their names: 'Frick took his name from a small village in Switzerland; Frack is a Swiss-German word for a frock coat, which my father used to wear in the early days of their skating act. They put the words together as a typical Swiss joke.'"

And now you know the meaning behind the use "Frick and Frack."

You also now know that Grandma really doesn't say that other word.

Enjoying the simple things,