If you think living in the suburbs is akin to something like
hell on earth, you are right. Well, etymologically, at least. The suburbs are
places beneath the city (from the Latin sub
= under, and urb = city), not
literally underground, but beneath, as in “not as good.”
The suburbium was
an outlying part of the city, which in old French became suburbe, or a residential area outside a city. Now, whole
municipalities are suburbs, without the city. We call then “bedroom
communities,” because it is presumed that people only sleep there, and drive
off on a highway to work somewhere else. But what of the families left behind?
They are suburbanites, anonymous as their name.
In 17th century London, suburbs became associated
with inferiority and bad behavior. By the 18th century, the word “suburban”
took on the more complex connotation with narrow-mindedness.
 |
| Old Suburban |
The Chevy Suburban has been around about as long as actual
suburbs: it’s been in continuous production since 1935 (the longest-lived
nameplate still in production). Just like its brick-and-mortar counterparts,
the Suburban has undergone considerable changes in design over the years,
though mostly downhill, aesthetically speaking. Where once it was an ergonomic
expression of style, all business and curves, it is now mostly just business
and square.
The suburbs are an artificial kind of living environment
because they have no history and have not been rooted in the landscape by
geology — merely by an excess population which gathers like plaque around
vehicular arteries. A lack of neighborhoods means that suburbanites buy food
from supermarkets. In 1970, perhaps they ate Suburbia Stew. It was the Golden
Age of the Suburb, where Moms still had time to cook stew, bought vegetables,
and had a bay leaf on hand to flavor the pot.
The Exurbs had yet to arrive.
Kraft’s Main Dish Cook
Book, 1970
Also from this book: Women's Lib, Mariachi Supper
