I just bought a new bunny hug and I'm so excited! I've been coveting it for months and I was finally able to afford it! It's simply gorgeous! It's got a white background but then fades from purple to yellow to red to blue in this geometric pattern that covers the entire thing. It's rather psychedelic. And it zips up in the front, which is my favorite kind of bunny hug.
Wait, you don't know what a bunny hug is? Don't worry, I moved to Ontario a few years ago, and every time I call it by the only name I know, my friends' eyes glaze over. Of course, if you're from Saskatchewan, you probably didn't even bat an eyelash because you know exactly what I'm talking about. But the rest of the world calls what I know as a bunny hug, a hoodie.
I never really thought about the fact that I call a hoodie a bunnie hug until my family went shopping south of the border when I was a teenager. We went back to a store we'd been to a few days before, and we were looking for a bunny hug we'd seen earlier, with my mom trying to describe the item in question. "We're looking for a brown sweater we saw a few days ago. You know? A huggie!" and I said, "Mom, those are diapers." And even when I said, "A bunny hug," the saleswoman was still completely lost. So I went home and found a newspaper article explaining the origins of this particular term.
The term bunny hug is almost strictly used in Saskatchewan (that's a province in Canada) and a few small communities in Manitoba (also a province in Canada). First appearing in the late 1950s, it originates from the era when people were dancing the bunny hop. The bunny hop is a bit like a congo line, except that instead of putting your hands on the hips or shoulders of the person in front of you, you quite literally hug them from behind. When you were doing this crazy dance, the pocket on the front would be in exactly the right place for you to put your hands inside.
After I found out how my little prairie province came up with this rather unique term, I started to think about other words that have a regional significance. I mean there are words that are strictly Canadian, but we take them for granted. Don't believe me? You've obviously never asked for a poutine (with cheese curds) while in Texas. Or how about this: I remember watching TV as a child and people would always be talking about this snack known as "cheese puffs" and I always thought they were some sort of fancy, exotic snack. Turns out they were just cheesies - and the day I realized that sad fact was a very disappointing one in the life of Giggler01.
I know that there will always be a debate about the pronunciation of words like tom-ah-toes and tom-ay-toes, and milk and melk. But what about all those times when the entire word changes? I remember traveling around the United States and asking for pop at a diner. The waitress would correct me with, "Soda?" and when I asked for soda at the next restaurant, I'd be greeted with, "Soda pop?" So I never knew what to ask for. Or what about my Grandma who asks me if I bought new sneakers to go back to school. I've never worn sneakers in my life, Grandma! I wear running shoes, thank you very much.
Beneath my curiosity, I'm also a little worried. The term bunny hug is fading out of use - kids in Saskatchewan who shop at stores like Old Navy or the Gap, or who buy things online, are referring to their bunny hugs as hoodies more and more every day. I know I'm just some wacko writer with a love affair of words, but whether we realize it or not, the words we use each day affect how we interact with our environment. It sounds ridiculous, but calling a hoodie a bunny hug is part of who I am. It's part of my identity, and I'm a bit sad that it'll eventually be sacrificed to the language that is evolving and emerging as part of our global culture.
Are there any other words that we're going to lose? Something that has a special name in your area that you don't want to lose? Do you care whether it's called the expiry date, expiration date or best before date? Or do we take these kind of trivial things for granted so that before we know it, they'll be gone forever - just like the memory of the people who danced the bunny hop on a balmy prairie night?
-GG01
Authoor's Note: Sources:
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=70fc9c9d-86e4-48f4-9d81-6d4079334a66&k=19626
