“Notes from the Orange Fridge.”
Weird title, huh? What does it mean? Well, allow me to explain…
Nothing truly rhymes with orange. It’s an anomaly of a word. Porridge comes close. But that leads me to my next quandary.
The word “fridge” is also somewhat of an anomaly. It is the only word of its kind that I can find. You see, “fridge” is an abbreviated version of refrigerator, as we all know. So why do we spell it “fridge” and not “frige,” or “frig?”
The best that I can surmise is as follows (and this is the rationalization I have come to though my own research into the word’s etymology):
“Frig” was obviously taken, being an abbreviation of “frigging,” a much older term of Middle English (17th century) origin and questionable meaning.
“Frige” is not only, NOT a word but also not an acceptable spelling of anything which one would wish to pronounce with a “soft G.” If anything, I’d say it looks French and I’d try to pronounce it /freezh/ or /free-ZHAY/. Eeehh, no.
Alrighty then, so what combination of letters will create the pronunciation I’m looking for? ”Ij?” Um, no. This is English. We don’t spell phonetically. IDGE. Yeah, that’s the ticket. It works for words like Porridge and Smidge. (Yes, smidge is a word. Webster’s says so!)
As I understand it, the most commonly accepted origin for this abbreviation comes from the absolutely brilliant brand name, Frigidaire. I can just see the brainstorming session… “You see, it’s this new-fangled contraption, see… and it makes the air frigid. What should we call it?” (For some reason I had a sort of 1930s, Humphrey Bogart-type of voice in my head while writing that.)
Its popularity spawned the use of “fridge” as a household term, in much the same way that “Kleenex” or “Xerox” has for tissues and photocopiers, respectively. However I must say that I find the use of both of those terms appalling. Just say tissue, or photocopy. It’s not hard. Though for some reason, I accept fridge.
Ok then it’s decided. The abbreviation for refrigerator will henceforth be known as “fridge”. All will rejoice in it’s proper spelling-to-pronunciation ratio!
Side note: I just thought of this after I was done writing this entire post. Shouldn’t it have an apostrophe? As in, ‘fridge? Nevermind, I’m not going down that road.
But that only got me thinking more. ”Hmm, what other words do we have that possess that “idge” that I’m so desperately looking for?” Porridge. Smidge. Ridge (which is just part of porridge). Ummm…
Is there no other word, which in long form, contains a single “g” yet gets the “j” sound? Exaggerate comes close, but alas, two g’s.
I have exhausted my search. I can’t find a single one. “Fridge” remains an anomaly.
When I came to this realization, my very first thought was, “Man, Orange Fridge would be a great name for something! Maybe a band, or… something.”
So when I decided to (finally) get my blog/art site rolling, the title simply fit.
It holds no other meaning to me, so don’t read anything into it. I don’t consider myself an anomaly, nor do I consider my art to be anything more than what it is on the surface.
In fact, I always scoffed at my art teachers hypothesizing on what this artist or that “must have been feeling or thinking” while at the moment of their art’s conception. How could we POSSIBLY know that, when they’ve been dead for 500 years and had not, to our knowledge, kept a journal or other written record that has survived all of this time? (I’ll elaborate in another post at some point).
I just thought it was a cool name.
My quest for the explanation to the anomalous origins of “fridge” wasted a good bit of time, but I came out a little more knowledgeable because of it.
Hopefully this site will do the same for you.
Best,
//G