Yesterday I mentioned that Sue had visited a cemetery. I\u2019ve touched on this topic before, and while it\u2019s not something you absolutely must know, maybe you can impress your friends next time the subject comes up. Ok, actually the subject probably won\u2019t just \u201ccome up\u201d but maybe you can bring it up and impress everyone. Always a good conversation starter around the table is, \u201cdo you know the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard?\u201d So off we go\u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I learned the answer to this age-old question when we were on vacation in Myrtle Beach with Terry and Al. We went on a Ghost Tour<\/em>, and found it to not only be entertaining, but very educational as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cemeteries and graveyards are both places we bury our dead, but (technically, at least) they\u2019re not exactly the same. Growing up in Maysville, Oklahoma \u2014 when people died, they were buried in the cemetery. At least they were if they were buried in Maysville, because there were no graveyards. So, as unusual as it is for me\u2026 getting right to he point, a cemetery refers to a large burial ground, typically not associated with a church. A graveyard is typically smaller than a cemetery and is almost always associated with a church \u2014 and is usually part of the churchyard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Years ago, the ritual and process of burial was totally in the hands of the church, and burying the dead was only allowed on the land(s) near the church building. This land around the church was called the churchyard. The part of the churchyard used for burial was called the graveyard. Over the years, as more and more people died, the graveyards were filling to capacity. Eventually, there was no more room for church burials and new places for burying people had to be found \u2014 these were called cemeteries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The term graveyard obviously refers to a yard filled with graves. The word grave<\/em> comes from old German, and means \u201cto dig.\u201d It\u2019s interesting that the word cemetery<\/em> comes from the old French word, cimetiere. That word means \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 graveyard. But the French word cimetiere originally came from the Greek word koimeterion. That word means \u201ca sleeping place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While we\u2019re on the subject, when I was going to school, depending on my class schedule, I sometimes worked the graveyard shift. I often wondered why it was called the graveyard shift. Actually, one of the men that I worked with on that late shift years ago, told me. It\u2019s referred to as the graveyard shift because of the “silence” at that time of night \u2014 and \u2014 there are substantially more (serious) accidents during that shift, compared to other working hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if you want to be technically correct when you visit, use the word cemetery when you\u2019re visiting the larger burial grounds and graveyard in the burial grounds next to the church. Yesterday I mentioned that Sue had visited a cemetery. I\u2019ve touched on this topic before, and while it\u2019s not something you absolutely must know, maybe you can impress your friends next time the subject comes up. Ok, actually the subject … Continue reading
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