A minor problem, but an interesting one, when reading literature from past times is decoding the words that have fallen from general use that would have been easily recognized by the people of the period .

Dr. Bill did a wonderful job yesterday in explaining to me how soft coal gas jets worked that I'd read about in Ethan Frome. From that same work, I came across the term 'fascinator,' which turned out to be, according to Webster's, a knit scarf usually of lace or crochet, which doesn't sound very warm to me for the snowy New England setting.

Anyway, I found a picture on Google of a fascinator:

http://www.modeknit.com/modeknit/images/t_1910_fascinator.jpg

Can't say that I like the term because it would beg argument on certain heads...

If you can think of other terms that you've learned about that fit into this category, please do share. One of the allures of literature for me is stepping back into periods in which I didn't live, particularly when an author is writing who directly experienced that period.