Anthony John Terlato was born on May 11, 1934, in Brooklyn and grew up in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. His father, Salvatore, sold insurance and real estate, and his mother, Frances (Giarusso) Terlato, kept house  [italics added]. They poured wine with dinner and, in the European fashion, mixed a little wine with water for young Anthony.

“Anthony Terlato, Who Brought Pinot Grigio to the U.S., Dies at 86.” The New York Times, July 23, 2020

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Growing up in the 50s, we all knew what a housewife was.

June Cleaver was a housewife.

My mother, college educated, was a housewife.

This “pejorative” word is banned in the media now.

As are stewardess and waitress.

Such meddling by language monitors (think hall monitor) shows ignorance and a lack of comprehension of how languages work. And of the ingenuity that often underlies them.

We all know what middlebrow and busybody mean. Clever words that “work.” Should they be banned or retooled?

Same with housewife.

Such supercilious stupidity.

 

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Scrooge was known for keeping Christmas in his own miserly way (which is to say, not keeping it).

Bob Cratchit’s wife kept house.

Do the language police long for the Victorian days?

Perhaps toilet should everywhere be replaced with water closet.

And bar with public house.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   August 2025

 

 

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See also:

https://rogers-rhetoric.com/2023/01/27/the-language-police-come-for-the-word-fiel