![[dan-truett-mcwhorter.jpg]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_473nrD5vEv8/S5hAR2x0JVI/AAAAAAAACVo/caHZJMX-j9o/s400/dan-truett-mcwhorter.jpg)
This picture was labeled "Skylarking". I had never heard that term before, so had to look it up. I learn it is sort of like Horseplay, or goofing around. Interesting word I had not run into before. The picture was taken in 1942 at the Imperial County Fair in California.
My grandmother used the term skylarking.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother (I lived with her during WWII) had to quit school after one day in the third grade to put food on the table, because her father had deserted the family.
ReplyDeleteShe cowboyed and herded goats. She would say "quit horsing around" but I never heard of "skylarking."
What I have noticed in the photos these past three days is that kids were not afraid to show affection towards each other....i.e. resting one's head on another, touching.... Today you would be considered odd to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThe term "skylarking" originated in WWII among American fighter pilots who, toward the end of the war, would go "skylarking," meaning random flight to hit and strafe any targets of opportunity. They brought the term back from that war.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of skylarking either.
ReplyDeleteNo snow just cold rain and 50 degrees.
These pictures make me feel good because I can remember some of those days when I was a kid in the 40s and 50s. It seems we laughed and smiled much more then than now. Too bad for the kids today......
ReplyDeleteWe called it horsing around or goofing around. Back then we weren't bombarded with deviant sexual innuendo. Nowadays we have every variety of lifestyle fighting to legally shove it in our faces. Normal has become uncommon or even unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteThe term originated long before WWII. In Royal Navy days of iron men and wooden ships, "Hands to dance and skylark" was piped when off watch sailors were then free to enjoy what little recreation they could in their grim surroundings. This included dancing and skylarking in the rigging of the ships way above the rolling decks.
ReplyDeleteah, the good ol' days. I think 'tis true. children can't like children anymore for fear of being deviant
ReplyDelete