Friday, November 7, 2014

Pregnancy Terminology

I'm curious how pregnancy terminology came about. Specifically, phrases like "expecting a baby":
Back in biblical times, instead of saying "expecting a baby" they would say a woman was "with child." Which begs the question- Aren't mothers with children even when they aren't pregnant? If a mom is "great with child" does that mean she's fantastic with children? I'm not trying to be sacrilegious, but I just think it's interesting how things have changed over time. Or over language--in Spanish, "giving birth" is literally translated to mean "to give a light." Which is cool, if you think of it in the context that everyone has the light of Christ.

It's funny, the other day a little girl saw me in an obvious pregnancy shirt and whispered to her mom, "She's getting a baby." Which is kind of like "she's having a baby"--but not quite. I had to laugh as I imagined someone (or a stork) handing me a baby once I hit 9 months, as if my stomach was a signal that I was ready.

What's pregnancy phrases do like/dislike?

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

1 comment:

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...