Have you noticed how grandmothers are drawn to the photos of their very messy grandbabies sitting in high chairs ( a table for one) and eating their first solid food or their first birthday cake? I submitted just such a picture of a grandson pounding his birthday cake with both fists so that icing flew everywhere to a magazine which printed it. That grandson, now 12, cringes with the mere mention of the magazine or the photo.
Of course, the observation of U. S. aphorist Mason Cooley isn't limited to children, is it? “At the dinner table, if you can’t think of anything to say, sit quietly. Don’t throw rolls, or chew on your napkin.” Along and along, we all have to be taught table manners beyond his list.
But, have you noticed how many of us, if given the opportunity upon arriving at a meeting, will congregate around a table rather than sit in a row of chairs? What is it that draws us to a table, especially the kitchen table to chat for a while? Is it the informality? Is it that at these times we can legitimately put our elbows on the table?
Philosopher and author Henry David Thoreau questions just the opposite. “I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board. The hospitality was as cold as the ices. I thought that there was no need of ice to freeze them.”
The dictionary informs us that the word “table” entered the English language in its earliest stages from French. For this utilitarian piece of furniture, the French had adapted the Latin word, “tabula,” which literally translated into “tablet” in English. However, history tells us that ancient civilizations had also found many purposes for a raised flat board - a table.
Probably the most famous of all tables was the Round Table in King Arthur’s court - designed so that all the knights seated around it recognized the equal status of each one present.
But the term “round table” has come to mean an equal opportunity site for negotiations.
“The Columbia Encyclopedia” states, “In 1930, in protest against the government’s salt tax, Gandhi led the famous 200-mi (320-km) march to extract salt from the sea. For this he was imprisoned but was released in 1931 to attend the London Round Table Conference on India as the sole representative of the Indian National Congress.” Although they did not reach an accord at that round table, people still gather today for “round table” discussions.
As the structure of tables took on different shapes, the English added adjectives to define the use of each table - kitchen table, dining table, coffee table, end table, tea table, dressing table, bedside table, pool table, steam table, parson’s table and the Lord’s table. Many of these, we cover with a tablecloth. We also use a tablespoon, table salt and table wine.
Lucille Ball was partial to the dressing table. “Use a make-up table with everything close at hand and don’t rush; otherwise you ll look like a patchwork quilt.”
And that’s just the beginning. When we “come to the table,” we do so with a purpose - either to eat or to discuss an issue before us. When we “table a motion,” we delay action, literally placing a document on the table until a future date. When we are straight forward, we “lay our cards” on the table. Some exchange questionable items “under the table.” And we “turn the tables” when we gain an advantage over an opponent. Likewise, we know that tableland is a flat area, that a table mountain has a flat top and that a table rock is also flat on top. We recognize the water table, the level at which water lies below. And we play table tennis, also known as ping pong.
In addition, we use the word “table” to describe the orderly, columnar display of data: table of contents, the scientific periodic table, the multiplication tables and the constellation table. “Columbia World of Quotations” explains that in the periodic table the elements are arranged in columns and rows according to increasing atomic number.
And poet Robert Frost writes in the poem entitled “Time Tables”
“A sigh for every so many breath,
And for every so many sigh a death.
That’s what I always tell my wife
Is the multiplication table of life.”
I was fascinated to learn that there is also a “truth table” in logic, a listing of truth values (true or false) of a proposition from all combinations of all components. It began as a mathematical procedure, but some of the great mathematical minds who were also philosophers transferred the concept to the logical analysis of life. What if there were actually a chart which allowed all of us to determine, without a doubt, how truthful lovers and politicians are?
Of course, I then come to my favorite line about a table, the one from the Twenty-third Psalm. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
2007
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