We were talking about Christmas decorations and I mentioned that quite a few years ago, Claire always put tinsel on our Christmas tree. You pretty much don\u2019t see tinsel at all these days, and if you do, it certainly doesn\u2019t look like it did years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tinsel is a funny word \u2014 according to the Oxford dictionary, the word comes from the old French word estincele, meaning \u201csparkle.
It\u2019s defined as:
\u2022 a form of decoration consisting of thin strips of shiny metal foil
\u2022 showy or superficial attractiveness or glamour<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tinsel that Claire used was shiny metal \u201cstrips\u201d and she hung them on the tree and they reflected the tree lights and made them seem to flicker. I did some checking and modern tinsel was invented in Nuremberg around 1610 and was originally made from extruded strands of silver. But because silver tarnishes quickly, it was soon made of other shiny metals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tinsel was very popular during the 1950s and 60s, and probably even into the 70s. Most tinsel back then was made of lead foil. Unlike silver, lead tinsel didn\u2019t tarnish. But lead tinsel was phased out due to concern that exposure created a risk of lead poisoning. Tinsel is now typically made from polyvinyl chloride (PVD) film coated with a metallic finish. The problem with the new material is that the tinsel doesn\u2019t hang as well as tinsel made from heavy metals \u2014 I\u2019m pretty sure that\u2019s the reason Claire stopped putting it on our trees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while on the subject of tinsel, I\u2019ve always heard Hollywood referred to as \u201cTinseltown\u201d \u2014 what\u2019s that all about? Hollywood is, or at least was, the capital of the American film industry. The fact that Tinseltown became a popular slang term for it isn\u2019t particularly surprising. Tinsel is a shiny material used for Christmas decorations \u2014 it\u2019s a little gaudy, but has no real substance. Hollywood, rightly or wrongly, has gotten the reputation of being a place that is beautiful on the surface, but underneath, is a harsh and ugly place.\u00a0
So Tinseltown has come to mean a place that\u2019s like tinsel \u2014 shiny and bright on the surface, but fragile and not made of solid material.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We were talking about Christmas decorations and I mentioned that quite a few years ago, Claire always put tinsel on our Christmas tree. You pretty much don\u2019t see tinsel at all these days, and if you do, it certainly doesn\u2019t … Continue reading