I came across a very strange phrase today
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (349210)
Rockingham, Australia
April 27, 2021 3:29am CST
I’ve been rereading some books then donating some and just keeping the ones I can’t bear to give away. I’ve just finished with Raccoons are the Brightest People by Sterling North. He believes raccoons are very intelligent and has many engaging tales to tell about them. Some that visited his home in Wisconsin learnt to ring a bell whereupon he would feed them.
He also saw two cooperate to open a jar. After a couple of false starts and some metaphorical head-scratching, one raccoon held the jar tight in its arms while the other screwed off the lid.
However, what I really wanted to share was the fact that, within the book, I came across this passage: ‘It has curtain across it to hide cookbooks, purses, work gloves and other lares and penates.’ I’d never heard of ‘lares and penates’ before but it seems it has several meanings. One is ‘household gods’ and the other meaning is ‘personal or household effects’. So I’m wondering has anyone on myLot heard of this phrase before?
The wonderful photo is courtesy of: Darkone, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
36 people like this
36 responses
@DaddyEvil (144278)
• United States
27 Apr 21
No, I've never heard of that phrase before. It is interesting, though.
7 people like this
As long as you treat them right, they will let you make believe you control the house. 
@DaddyEvil (144278)
• United States
27 Apr 21
@JudyEv It's rare for me to read something I haven't read before but when I do, I can get lost in reading about the phrase that's new to me. 
2 people like this
@m_audrey6788 (58472)
• Germany
27 Apr 21
Sorry. Never heard of it too 
Have a great day
Have a great day 5 people like this
@LadyDuck (472516)
• Switzerland
27 Apr 21
I never heard referred to kitchen stuff, but I did when I studied Roman mythology. Lares and Penates (Latin words) were groups of deities who protected the houses and the family. They were the spirits of the ancestors who protected the home.
6 people like this
@snowy22315 (186985)
• United States
27 Apr 21
Nico has a mask and reminds me of a raccoon. I think raccoons are clever.
4 people like this
@GardenGerty (162783)
• United States
28 Apr 21
@JudyEv We had a tribe of young raccoons terrorizing us for dog food. I was keeping my sister's dogs. They got in the plastic tub, so we got a metal trash can with a tight fitting lid, they worked together to take it off. We put a full heavy tool box on it and a number of babies or maybe teenage raccoons worked together to shove it off and then take the lid off. 3 or four at least.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (349210)
• Rockingham, Australia
29 Apr 21
@GardenGerty I can imagine how annoying that would have been. You would be always trying to keep one step ahead of the villains.
@allen0187 (58574)
• Philippines
27 Apr 21
First time I've heard about this phrase.
4 people like this
@wolfgirl569 (113576)
• Marion, Ohio
27 Apr 21
I think I might have a long time ago. But never thought about what it was.
4 people like this
@owlwings (43907)
• Cambridge, England
28 Apr 21
@JudyEv I don't think that it was ever in common use but Latin was a required subject for many people (you had to have it to get into University - that is, Oxford or Cambridge, anyway) so reference to the Roman household gods would have been more widely known than it is today.
1 person likes this
@Chellezhere (5770)
• United States
27 Apr 21
I majored in English language and literature. I have run across that phrase at some point, but cannot recall where or when. My grandmother may have even been the one who said it. But, as I know you know, its use has become obsolete.
5 people like this
@mildredtabitha (16392)
• Nairobi, Kenya
27 Apr 21
I've never heard of it before. I'm reading for the first time on your post. You did good sharing.
4 people like this
@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
27 Apr 21
you always find the "most fun" words and phrases. This is one I remember reading many years ago in a book by Beatrix Potter.
4 people like this
@JudyEv (349210)
• Rockingham, Australia
29 Apr 21
@DocAndersen Did you make something up in the meantime?
Did you make something up in the meantime?1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
28 Apr 21
@JudyEv pretty much - i read the book to my class and one of the kids said "what does that mean" I had to go look it up at lunch time!
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16887)
• China
27 Apr 21
It is amazing raccoons have such high intelligence quotient ! Maybe they can do some other things that make us jaw dropped.
4 people like this
@1creekgirl (43064)
• United States
27 Apr 21
This is such a cool post! I've never read that phrase before now.
4 people like this
@arunima25 (89449)
• Bangalore, India
28 Apr 21
Never heard of such phrase.
It's amazing to know such incidents about raccoons. I have seen that kind of intelligence in dogs and monkeys.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (349210)
• Rockingham, Australia
30 Apr 21
@arunima25 I found it very engaging. Sterling North was a big name but quite some time ago. Perhaps he is barely remembered now. 
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (89449)
• Bangalore, India
30 Apr 21
@JudyEv I have noted down the name of book. Maybe I get to read it some day. Sounds interesting read to me.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (349210)
• Rockingham, Australia
29 Apr 21
@GardenGerty I forget about rabies as we don't have it in Australia. That would be quite a worry.
