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We are talking about leaves and seeds today and went for a walk in the woods. (ya 8 year old remembered her learning) Anyhoo she asked me why do they call it Fall? Before I could answered she said they must have called it Fall because things fall to the ground during this time. We collect pinecones and tomorrow I am going to buy a big thing of peanut butter and birdseed for our birds. I plan on wrapping yarn around the pinecones and then wrap them around the pine trees. Should work? I don't have a feeder or anywhere's to hang food for the birds yet.

According to Wikipedia:

"The alternative word fall is now mostly a North American English word for the season. It traces its origins to old Germanic languages. The exact derivation is unclear, the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning "to fall from a height" and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in the 16th century, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year".[3]

During the 17th century, English immigration to the colonies in North America was at its peak, and the new settlers took their language with them. While the term fall gradually became obsolescent in Britain, it became the more common term in North America, where autumn is nonetheless preferred in scientific and often in literary contexts."


Now, I have no idea if any of that is correct, but it's fairly interesting. We have done the pine cone/peanut butter bird feeder several times. My kids love that one. We used pipe cleaners to attach them to the trees, but we had really skinny branches (new neighborhood). We also usually wound up with more peanut butter on the kids than on the pine cones. Hope you have as much fun as we did!

"Fall" is the time of year when we do rubbings of leaves, create birdfeeders (from PB, pinecones, and birdseed/milk cartons painted and decorated, etc.), place pumpkins on our doorsteps...the squirrels and chipmunks eat them throughout the winter...we go apple-picking...making applesauce, applebutter/jam, apple muffins, apple pancakes, etc. with our spoils. It's such a great time of year....so beautiful. The leaves here fall so quickly it often reminds me of rain. The colors are so bright...

I think it's awesome that our dc are so in tune with the 'season' and are so curious to ask those important questions. We often ponder why a word is used a certain way, where it came from, and it's always fun to search out the answer! I think your dc's answer is right on...it's like the word chili-we decided it was called that because people eat it when it's "chilly" outside!

Does anyone know the official answer?


.....okay...I searched it...it seems it comes from the chili peppers/powder used in the recipe. So much for our guess. I should have known....chili pwder always goes into my chili!