When I was a kid, my Dad loved to make words silly. He would say scissors and sword and pronounce the ‘c’ and ‘w.’ He’d say K-night and an-SWer. He’d right upside down and backwards. In fact, the first time I ever wrote my name I wrote: trah nasus.
Suffice it to say, he loved the English language with all of its rules and foibles and imperfections. I inherited that love from him. He didn’t love gardening, though, I inherited that fondness from my Croatian Dedo. Quite often in the quiet of the garden I hear them both in my head. My Dedo’s voice is loving and kind, about treating plants with tenderness. My Dad’s makes me laugh inside as I harvest this-T-les and cut lim-B’s off of trees or pick ras-P-berries.
But I laugh out loud with the word gnome. Not just because the word is funny — in my head I say ge-nome (my Dad would be so proud) — but because the garden sculptures, themselves, are just ridiculous. And I have a collection. What does that say about me?! It led me on a search to discover the attraction behind these tiny effigies, that we scatter about our yards, that depict men with long white beards and pointed red hats in various states of leisurely pastimes.
Their popularity started in Germany in the 1800s. But it really skyrocketed after Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. All that hi-hoing and off-to-work-we’re-going highlighted their charm … even though a dwarf is not technically the same as a gnome. Really, did you think they were?!
Their mythical DNA shows distinct differences from each other. In the world of fairytale creatures, dwarves are wise, friendly, hardworking and populate the forests and mountains. Gnomes, not so friendly characters who live underground.
So gnomes have different genomes. Aha! Vindication for my quirkiness with the English language. What are the odds that these two words would be so similar? 158,662,334 to 1. Ok, I made that up. But these are storybook characters, so a little exaggeration is forgivable. Except for that fact that these miniature gartenzwerges (that’s German) have been elevated to human-like existence, imbued with rights and freedoms.
The Garden Gnome Liberation Front, an organization with the sole purpose of liberating gnomekind everywhere, has issued a call to arms to alleviate the cruelty garden gnomes are forced to endure when stolen out of their outdoor environment. This is real. There’s even a Facebook page in support of this gnoble endeavor. No longer will gnomes be discriminated against because of their inability to stand-up for themselves … or to stand up at all.
Even the world’s most prestigious gardening event in the world, The Chelsea Flower Show, banned these tacky little people from the grounds of their show for 100 years, only to bend to popular demand and allow them back into the show’s garden beds a few years ago. Gnomophobes took a back seat to kitschy charm.
And charming they are, literally. Considered a lucky talisman by millions around the world, the garden gnome has moved well past its Germanic motif and into the realm of multi-cultural relevance. You’ll find them with a sombrero, in a bathing suit, with a jersey from a favorite sports team, dressed as Jerry Garcia and Uncle Sam and, now, there are even female gnomes.
Never let it be said that gnome genomes are resting on their garden laurels.