words words words

First, a preface.

I'm not a scholar of language and words.  I find them interesting, but my expertise is limited to the Greek and Latin roots my public school education taught me in Mrs. Steckroth's 7th grade English class, and the few years of literature, grammar, and vocabulary I studied thereafter.

That said, I have noticed lately, in the relative-newness my current position, that there are certain words and phrases unique to this place of employment.  And of course that caused me to remember other phrases I picked up at previous places of employment.  And that caused me to remember misunderstanding expressions when I was a kid because I took them too literally.  And that's where I'd like to begin.

The Black Top
It must have been before kindergarten even, but I remember hearing the older kids in the neighborhood talk about playing on The Black Top.  I have a very distinct memory of imagining (I was a very imaginative kid, as you'll see) a group of 25 or 30 2nd graders all trying to balance on a black rubber lid of a large grey trash can.  I was able to imagine it as a fun game, so I could see how playing on The Black Top was fun, and I very much looked forward to doing it myself.

In The Field
I can't remember where I heard it, maybe a teacher, a tv show, a grown up at church, but I think I was in 6th or 7th grade.  Mind you, I was a bright kid.  I'm still called "sharp" on occasion (and we'll get to that later), but for some reason, I had no context for someone working In The Field.  In this context, I'm thinking of an archeologist as opposed to a strawberry picker.  In my imagination, an archeologist working In The Field just meant a lot of fresh air and extensions cords, and your library was really far away.  I had a similar first response to working On Site.

Next time I'll have to write about the different phrases and expressions I've picked up at my places of employment.