[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] putsfrau

[Beth Burke]

The term was quite commonly used as a term for a stay-at-home wife/mother when we lived in the German state of Hessen.  It could also refer to a cleaning lady.  

My personal opinion (although it doesn't matter much) is that a stay-at-home wife/mother has the hardest career a woman can have.  As for being referenced as a cleaning lady, whenever I have to tell our son to clean his room (he's 19 and I should no longer have to remind him), I give him one reminder, and if it doesn’t get done, I put on my maid/cleaning lady game face and I do the cleaning.  It costs him $10 for the any part of and up to 10 minutes.  After that, it's $5 every 10 minutes.  And mark my word, this cleaning lady moves very S-L-O-W-L-Y!  And she tells her son to hand over the money, too - No fooling around here!  

Beth Burke
Verona, WI

-----Original Message-----
From: Ger-Poland-Volhynia [mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at sggee.org] On Behalf Of Lloyd Friedrick
Sent: Monday, April 4, 2016 1:05 PM
To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] putsfrau


Is the Volhynian German word “putzfrau”  somewhat derogatory ?   

I used this term in in reference to my grandmother, she was in the employ of my grandfather’s household in Volhynia. His first wife died rather suddenly leaving quite a few young children. Grandfather married my grandmother shortly after this tragic event.

My father described her with this term. I used it in a family newsletter and my cousins in Bavaria reacted with outrage that I would use such a term

Perhaps dialect and German language form is different in Bavaria.

Lloyd Friedrick in Victoria, British Columbia _______________________________________________
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