Tag: Vocabulary

Handball

LANE: Bible class has been moved an hour later, all to accommodate the reverend’s handball schedule.

In America, handball is a sport where players use their hands to hit a small rubber ball against a wall; it is sometimes called wallball. The idea is to hit the wall with the ball in such a way that your opponent is unable to do the same without hitting the ground twice, or hitting it out of bounds. The game is played on a small court, similar to a squash court. It is possible that the high school gym is used for handball in Stars Hollow.

The first historical record of someone hitting a ball against a wall with their hand is from Scotland in 1427, when King James I was a keen player. The game in America may go back to the American Revolution, but the earliest mention of the modern game is from San Francisco in 1873.

In the next season, we discover the Seventh Day Adventist pastor is named Reverend Melmim, although in real life, Seventh Day Adventist pastors aren’t actually addressed as “Reverend”.

It seems that even though Lane is grounded so badly she isn’t allowed to leave home, even to attend school, she is allowed to go to Bible class with her mother (and presumably, church). Later in the episode, we discover Bible class is on Saturday morning.

As Mrs Kim told Stars Hollow High that Lane had an infectious disease and was too sick to go to school, letting her out to attend Bible class seems like something the school would get to hear about.

Chaps

SHERRY: And your uniform is darling, really. I love the blue. Of course, I’m sure you look good in anything.
LORELAI: Oh yeah, you should see her in chaps.

Chaps are sturdy coverings for the legs consisting of leggings and a belt, usually made from leather, designed to protect the trousers of a horse rider from scratches against plants and branches. They are particularly associated with cowboys and the American Wild West, and originated in southern Spain, where they were brought to Mexico, and then adopted by American cowboys. They were common in Texas by the 1870s at least.

“Aw shucks, Pa”

SHERRY: Mm hmm. Well, you were very poised up there, very sure of yourself, just like your dad.
CHRISTOPHER: And your mom.
LORELAI: Aw shucks, Pa.

Aw, shucks is an informal American exclamation, expressing self-deprecation or a pleased embarrassment at being praised by another, as if modestly declining the compliment. It is considered to be unsophisticated, folksy, and probably rather dated.

Lorelai’s comment sounds very much like a reference to The Andy Griffith Show, previously discussed. In the show, Opie Taylor (played by Ron Howard), is the young son of the town sheriff, Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith), who Opie called “Pa”. Many of their interactions ended with Opie saying, “Aw shucks, Pa”.

Mano a mano

PARIS: Guess we’re going mano a mano today, huh?
BRAD: Oh God.

In Spanish, mano a mano literally means “hand to hand”, used to describe a duel between two opposing matadors in a bullfight. In informal American English, it’s used in the same sense as “one on one”, a direct confrontation between two adversaries on equal footing.

Some people wrongly think it means “man on man”, since the Spanish word for “hand” is so similar to the English word man.

Hockey

LORELAI: Hey, let’s sit at the counter.
RORY: Nah, the counter, those are not the power seats.
LORELAI: Yes, but with no one here we can sit at either end and play bagel hockey.

In North America, “hockey” nearly always refers to ice hockey. Hockey is usually called “field hockey” in North America.

Bagel Hockey appears to use a bagel as the puck – the little disc that is pushed across the ice with hockey sticks in an attempt to get it into the goal.

Bagel

LORELAI: Hey, let’s sit at the counter.
RORY: Nah, the counter, those are not the power seats.
LORELAI: Yes, but with no one here we can sit at either end and play bagel hockey.

A bagel is a ring-shaped bread roll which is boiled before being baked, resulting in a dense, doughy interior with an often crisp crust. It originates from the Jewish communities of Poland, and is first mentioned in the 17th century, although very similar breads can be found in 13th century Arabic cookbooks, and a bagel-like bread was made in Poland as early as the 14th century.

They are a popular bread product in North America and Poland, especially in areas with a large Jewish population. Brought to the US by Jewish Polish immigrants, they came into general use by the last quarter of the twentieth century.

They are so closely associated with Jewish culture that the verb “to bagel” refers to a Jewish person deliberately using typically Jewish words or phrases in front a stranger to signal to them that they are also Jewish.

Cigar Club, Flophouse

EMILY: A cigar club. Can you imagine a more disgusting organization to join? Your grandfather now pays money to sit in an enclosed room with a bunch of other men and blow smoke in each other’s faces. Twice a week he comes home smelling like a flophouse.

This is Richard’s first attempt to reinvent himself after retirement by joining a cigar club, where men gather to buy and smoke cigars together.

In real life, there are many places in Hartford which have cigar bars and lounges. The upmarket Hartford Club [pictured] has a cigar room for guests, and this seems like the sort of place Richard would feel comfortable.

This explains Richard’s absence for Friday Night Dinner, now the writers can’t use his job as an excuse. It does seem a little strange that Lorelai and Rory can never miss Friday Night Dinner except for emergencies or extraordinary circumstances, but Richard can miss it just to smoke a cigar!

A flophouse is American English for a dosshouse: a cheap hotel, hostel, or boarding house designed to house poverty-stricken homeless people. It seems unlikely they would actually smell of expensive cigars.

Water Aerobics Class

EMILY: He’s going to join my water aerobics class.
LORELAI: What?
EMILY: He bought some new swim trunks today. He’s out of control.

Water aerobics, or aquarobics, are aerobics performed in a swimming pool, usually standing upright. It’s a form of resistance and strength training, as well as a cardiac workout – you can work harder without getting overheated. It’s ideal for seniors as a way to exercise safely.

Lorelai earlier said that Emily was keeping her legs trim by holding grudges. Here we discover that Emily actually attends an exercise class to keep fit. (In real life, Kelly Bishop’s shapely legs are from her years of dancing on Broadway).

Family Mausoleum

EMILY: Well, I visited the family mausoleum today … I just wanted to check on things, make sure they were keeping it up, changing the flowers, you know.

A mausoleum is a building which contains a burial chamber with spaces for the dead to be interred. They have existed since ancient times for rulers, the nobility, and gentry, and became particularly popular in Europe and its colonies in the 18th and 19th centuries as burial options for the wealthy.

In real life, Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford [pictured] has mausoleums for burials, usually owned by wealthy and prominent families, many of them of historic significance. The Gilmore family mausoleum is presumably one of them.