Hippies

Day 13: We've been down this road before, but because you are still here reading my posts, I assume that you are at least to some degree intrigued by language and word origins, if perhaps not at quite the same level as I am. "Hip" has always fascinated me. The word evolved from a different root than "hip" in the sense we use it to describe our physical attributes or a particular type of roof construction. "Hip" as it relates to roses grew from Old English via Scandinavia as "heope,"the term for a bramble. On the other hand, our physical hips were subject to some "hype," Old English morphing through "hepe" and "hippe" to arrive at its present form. "Heopes" are rich in vitamin-C, and can be used to make tea or a delightfully fragrant jelly, but I would suggest gathering them before excessive moisture initiates the process of decay which, of course, liberates the harder seeds contained in the pulp and guarantees that hippies will endure forever. Or almost.