On 11/23/2020 at 12:01 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:
Fridge, really a hundred years? When I was growing up the appliance was called the ice box.
Fridge? I've always understood that to have started as a shortened way of saying Frigidaire, which for many years was almost ubiquitous as the refrigerator of choice. It was invented, or first produced, around 1916, and then a few short years later was purchased and marketed by General Motors.
Growing up, most families I knew owned a Frigidaire, although we had a Crosley Shelvador, which I believe was the first refrigerator with shelves in the door. Nonetheless, we called it a fridge just as Frigidaire owners called their refrigerators a fridge.
Think of Jeep, which was a specific brand of vehicle which later became synonymous with a type of vehicle. Kleenex was another such item. Old names are sometimes slow to die. They become part of the lexicon. How many people still call aluminum foil tin foil, which fell out of favor after WWII?
That said, many folks called their refrigerator an ice box because, before (and during) the transition to electric powered refrigerators, one used an insulated box that was cooled with big blocks of ice. My mom's parents used such a device until almost 1949, long after the advent of the more modern refrigerator, and after we moved into our home and purchased the Crosley. I still know some folks who call their "fridge" an ice box.
