Monday, April 13, 2015

K ~ Kissy

Sorry, this is not what you think.

I can't make myself write anything about kissing even when the characters in my story are obviously in love, so there is no way a post about kissing will be written for my blog.

However in the language the Amish speak kissy is something quite different. It's a pillow, any pillow.

So if you're ever in an Amish home and you happen to hear a child say the word kissy they are not asking for a kiss, they're asking for a pillow.

We used to have normal pillows for our beds when I was growing up, and several nice pillows for our sofa that we would bring out and use when we knew we would have visitors. 

My grandmother, and family in Lancaster and its daughter settlements used to have huge pillows for their beds. One pillow per bed was all they needed since it was as wide as the bed. These big pillows were homemade, often stuffed with feathers they had collected from their flock of geese.

9 comments:

  1. I'm from southern Michigan and I've been to Amish communities in northern Indiana. Great home cooked food. I love their restaurants!

    Stephen Tremp
    an A-Z Cohost
    @StephenTremp on Twitter

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  2. We have Mennonite communities here and they too have great restaurants. I like the word kissy for a pillow. And how sensible to have a pillow which stretches right across the bed.

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  3. Well, the German word for pillow is kissen, so that's not a big surprise, but there are a lot of words that are common to English and another language that mean *totally* different things.

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  4. Just found your blog! I'll be looking around when I have time. I grew up in Lancaster County! :)

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  5. That pillow sounds absolutely divine! Do you have any pillows that big now?

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  6. Ahh, pillows! :) Those could definitely be awkward words to confuse.

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  7. It's interesting that the German word for pillow is "Kissen". Must be where it comes from, yes? We have Mennonite communities here in southern Ontario, which I think are very similar to Amish.

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  8. Oh I hadn't realised the Amish had their own language. I actually know very little about the Amish so I'm really happy to have found your blog, I always love to hear about things and people I know little about.
    I have to say that a huge pillow the size of the bed sounds pretty amazing!

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  9. I occasionally like to turn my pillow over in the middle of the night.ni like how it feels nice and cool against my head and cheek. One wide pillow would most likely mean that my husband's head would be on the other end of it...so I wouldn't be able to turn it over.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.