Chums

This illustration is the first in a new little series which I'm calling 'The History of Freindship.' We have a wonderful abundance of terms in the English language that describe friendship. Each picture in the series will be titled with one of these nifty words (or acronyms as the case may be), and I will try and tie the subject matter into the word origins. It's going to be a challenge, but a fun one.    

This weeks picture is titled 'chums', a word which, according to a few online dictionaries, originated sometime during the late 1600s. It's basically a shortened version of chamber mates and most likely got its start at Oxford university. In this illustration, Bob and his llama are, of course, chilling in the same room. Bob is cleaning a bridle and the llama is kushing on a soft persian rug.


Miss Ingerman,
the illustrator