Why Box?

After I reread Mom’s description of getting a new refrigerator in 1992, it occurred to me that her use of the word box might perplex or confuse younger readers or those who grew up in the tropics.

When she writes:

The box I wanted was a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer to replace the second-hand one that has given me reliable service for more than ten years.

readers will probably realize that box refers to the new appliance, but they may wonder why she chose that word.

On the other hand, when she writes:

The gang moved the box…

readers may assume that the refrigerator was delivered in a large cardboard carton (it wasn’t) and that box refers to such a carton rather than to the refrigerator itself.

In Mom’s childhood home (and many houses in Michigan at the time), the kitchen contained an ice box, an insulated cabinet that kept foods fresh and chilled by means of a large block of ice, typically harvested from a frozen lake in the winter. When home refrigerators replaced ice boxes, Mom and others of her generation often called this new appliance an ice box out of habit, using box for short, the way we use fridge today.