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<DIV>I can't believe this. Jeanene is ASKING my to comment on a subject? (Where
are the emoticons so I can put a friendly smile here, accepting the joke in good
humor?) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Siarlys</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>OK, here goes:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On Tue, 23 May 2006 16:11:18 -0700 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <<A href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>>
writes:</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000080 face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Well, then, I want a
little explanation of the following words as you know them to be:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>hex sign -- a colorful design painted on barns and homes in Pennsylvania
Deutsch (they aren't really Dutch, they're German) areas, believed to ward off
spells, hexes, evil eyes, and other such hazards. Also sold to tourists to
take home to other states as interesting decorations.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"state store" -- in some states, sale of alcohol, or at least of hard
liquor, is limited to state-owned, or a limited number of state-licensed
stores, called "state stores." Corner grocery stores, convenience stores, etc.
don't carry it, althought they may in some states be allowed to carry beer,
and separate wine stores may or may not be allowed.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"sticky buns" -- a yeast roll with a sticky caramel syrup poured over and
hardened, often baked with pecans or walnuts, sometimes with raisins.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Scrapple -- I don't recall the exact ingredients, but it is a gelatinous
food made from the hooves and some internal organs of slaughtered animals.
Considered a delicacy in times when meat was scarce and every bit had to be
used.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>commonwealth -- the colonies of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were
commonwealths, meaning to a limited extent that the government derived from
the common agreement of whatever minority of the population were considered
full citizens (generally requiring ownership of a certain value of property).
Pennsylvania was originally a proprietorship: the personal jurisdiction of the
Penn family, and became a commonwealth when the Penns were displaced. New York
was a royal dominion, New Jersey was granted to a couple of nobility as their
personal estate, Maryland was initially the proprietorship of Lord Baltimore,
but that didn't last either. Virginia and South Carolina were crown colonies,
ruled more or less directly by the king. But being so far away, they did have
their own representative assemblies. And then, the people who lived in these
places got their own ideas about how to govern what, or some of them did.
About a third of the colonial population supported the revolution, another
third opposed, and the remaining third watched which way the wind was blowing,
while profitting from both sides at every opportunity.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>townships</DIV>
<DIV>bouroughs</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The meaning of both terms varies, and often overlaps. "County" was, in
Europe, the domain of a count, less than an earl, who was less than a duke,
who was less than a king. What we call county is in England called a shire,
which is the domain in which a shire-reeve (sheriff) is responsible for law
and order. Townships in New York are semi-unincorporated areas, smaller than a
county, larger than a city, which in Wisconsin would be called a town. Except,
in New York City, which is made up of literally five counties, each county
government is called a burough. Burough can also mean an unincorporated rural
area, or be used in the sense that village is in other states: an incorporated
municipality smaller than a city. I think burough may be used in place of
county in some states, but I'm not sure. (I don't know everything).</DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS">I have always assumed that
township, commonwealth and borough are the same thing as county, but now that
doesn't seem quite right...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Jeanene</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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