Wondrous Words & WHAT ARE THE CHANCES? Middens
When I think of the history I learned in school—Marco Polo and then the exploration of Canada in grade school, the Magna Carta et al in Grade 9, and a local history course in tenth grade—I do not recall ever hearing the word midden.
A MIDDEN is a community garbage heap—perhaps today we’d say “town dump” (in North America at any rate). They are a rich source of information and relics for archaeologists. And it is the unusual-to-me word that came at me in consecutive reads this month.
In Martin Walker’s Bruno Chief of Police #4 The Crowded Grave (pg. 19) I read:
“Teddy had an interesting idea he wanted to pursue”, said Horst. “He was looking for the midden, the latrine, the place where people threw their rubbish, and he assumed it would be away from the water supply.”
Of course, in so doing, Teddy discovered a more recent body than should have been at that archeological dig site.
Next book up was The Last Kashmiri Rose that, despite its title, is not romance but a solid detective/police procedural set in 1922 British India, and is the first in Barbara Cleverly’s Joe Sandilands series.
I had barely begun to read when on page 12, I saw:
Though no stranger to the midden that was the East End of London- he’d not, by a long way, been able to accept the poverty that surrounded him [in Calcutta].
So, what are the chances of these bizarre reading coincidences? Pretty good it seems.
A day late and a dollor short, I’m linking to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion.
P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.
Hi Debbie,
Midden is a word I know very well from my school day history lessons, although I have never come across it in any of my detective reading, so for you to have come across it twice, is indeed a coincidence.
A great word and a couple of new to me authors to add to my reading list, so thanks for an interesting post this week 🙂
Yvonne
Both of these series are excellent, Yvonne, although I particularly like Bruno’s France.
You should definitely add John Bart’s Middenrammers to your TBR then! It’s a slim debut novel, published earlier this year by FreeHand, and has such an interesting combination of women’s and medical (and social) history. Saying nothing else because I loved being surprised!
Of course! I looked at that title so many times when I was going over the CanLit list and it didn’t even click. Thanks for pointing it out, Marcie. 🙂
I love it when things like that happen. Of course, I can’t think of a great example right now, but a link re a word or a setting or some other non-obvious feature of a book happens more frequently than I would expect. And it always make me smile.
Midden is a lovely word, and like Yvonne I have come across it but I have studied anthropology and have come across it in historical fiction. I think I have also come across it (them) in some of the British crime shows like Midsomer Murders!!
When I try to think of these connections out of hand, I can’t come up with any either, Sue. But they are always fun when they happen.
I’ll have to try the Midsomer Murders. Netflix Canada being, not about flix anymore, but about television including lots of British programs, has it.
I enjoy it when you do these word posts. In fact, you have gotten me to start keeping track of words I have to look up when I read. I used to make that a practice but dropped it, probably out of laziness. I feel it is a blessing that in modern times our middens are kept out of sight (and smell) by our city’s waste collection services.
I’m glad you enjoy these post, Judy. I was thinking of making them a (semi)regular feature.
That is a new word for me. I love how it showed up multiple times in your reading.
Midden sounds so much nicer than dump!