Okinawa 1964

Splashing out of the water, I heard my grandmother exclaim, “that child is brown as a berry.” My earliest memories of the proclamation filled me with happiness.  Now I am a grandmother and I have used that same phrase more than a few times. I can not think of any brown berries. A little research and I found the first usage is credited to Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century England), in at least two of his Canterbury Tales. In The Cook’s Tale,”Happy he was as goldfinch in the glade, Brown as a berry, short, and thickly made…” And in his description of the Monk, “He was not pale as some poor wasted ghost.A fat swan loved he best of any roast. His palfrey was as brown as is a berry.” Some scholars attribute this idiom to a description of grains or nuts possibly referred to as berries in the 14th century. In both cases it does seem to mean tanned skin or fur. Which is what it still means to this day. I am in love with this idiom which has survived mostly intact for 6 centuries!

The picture attached to this post was taken in 1964.  It is a picture of me (I am in the swim cap in the background), and two of my friends, Kim and Susie. Our fathers were stationed in Okinawa. We played at the beach often and so began my love of being “brown as a berry.”