Shed Sheds", which argues that a "place of retreat" is a "male necessity" which provides men with solace, especially during their retirement. In contrast, in the novel "Cold Comfort Farm" by Stella Gibbons, Aunt Ada Doom saw "something nasty in the woodshed" and retreated to her bed for half a century. To woodshed, or 'shed, in jazz jargon, is "to shut oneself up, away from the world, and practice long and hard, as in 'going to the woodshed'." The word is recorded in English since 1481, as "shadde", possibly a variant of shade. The word shade comes from the Old English
The Relic (novel) wore. Unfortunately a mix-up results in the aunt receiving something entirely unwelcome and she evicts him, penniless, from her home. The mix-up is never satisfactorily explained in the novel and could be the result of a simple accident, a deliberate act or God's punishment for Teodorico's hypocrisy. He eventually renounces hypocrisy in favour of complete honesty, and as a consequence ends up living a comfortable life, although the novel ends with his conclusion that things could have turned out even better if he had been quick enough to think of a convincing lie to explain the mix-up to his aunt.