Before delving into my series on words, I’d like to take a detour into the idea that a double number age, like 88 – my new age – is thought to carry with it some special, incredibly auspicious, and powerful sign – if one believes that sort of thing. And, well – why not!
But, back to the words at hand …
Food seems foremost in my mind since I’ve been on this gastroparesis diet beginning last January, so that’s our first topic about words. And, I promised to introduce you to “smoozies.” When I was a kid so many years ago (now that I just turned eighty-eight, a really long, long time ago, we had a special treat that we called smoozies. This was the name my father always called these ice cream bars. They came in some kind of package (today, they would come in a narrow, plastic-like covering, but not plastic); they were on a stick that had been embedded into the ice cream. AND, they were covered with chocolate! Glorious chocolate! We didn’t have much chocolate at my house; chocolate cake made with cocoa, once in a while. But, never chocolate like what covered those bars.
Well … at Christmas, we also had a candy made by my mother that was covered with chocolate; melted chocolate chips. Maybe, I’ll tell you how to make that in December. Anyway, that was it. For the entire year. When summer came, we could look forward to the smoozies. Being somewhat curious, even then, I did want to know where they came from, and how they got their name. Not too curious, though, to actually find the answers to those questions.
Growing up, ice cream on a stick coated with chocolate was an occasional treat. I always called them smoozies – that’s what they were. Others called them ice cream bars – BORING NAME! I still wondered, as an adult, where did that name, smoozies, really come from. Until this blog about words.
Thinking that smoozies was a name invented by my father, I searched the web for smoozies. Surprise! There is was – an AI report about smoozies being the invention of an ice cream company called Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream from Pueblo, Colorado, the town where I lived as a child and teenager.
So, it turns out that my father was calling them the right name. I was calling them the right name – although, there has been a name change since the “smoozie” era to some name that includes “ice cream” bar – STILL A BORING NAME!
Kumquat is an interesting word. Have you ever eaten a kumquat? Have you ever seen one in a grocery store? I don’t remember any.
Described as similar to an orange, a sliced kumquat seems to have four sections and is the size of a large olive. Native to China, they are grown in Japan and Southeast Asia. Where I live, it gets cold in the winter – well, it usually gets cold in the winter. Not this past winter, though, with only a few days of really cold temperatures.
Never having tasted a kumquat nor even seen one, I am left with wondering, what good are they? Apparently, they have a covering like that of an orange – so I’m guessing that they must have to be peeled. Being the size of a large olive with a peel that has to be removed, there can’t be much edible fruit inside. Maybe, the next time I go select groceries, I’ll look harder in the produce section to see if there are kumquats there. Or, I’ll ask the store employee working that area.
Never having tasted a kumquat, I have eaten mulligatawny stew – or, at least, my mother’s recipe of that stew. Mulligatawny is a stand-alone word, but my head needs to add “stew” to the label. As a kid, I lived maybe six-to-seven blocks from the elementary school I attended. And, I walked home for lunch, ate my lunch, and walked back to school. Everyday – even when there was snow on the ground. One day, my mother prepared this stew for lunch. It had parsnips in it. I hate parsnips!
According to my research, mulligatawny stew does not have parsnips. Other stews do. However, I’ve always thought of that soup, that kept me from getting back to school on time, as mulligatawny stew. After tasting the stew that my mother made, one taste only, I stopped eating. Now, my mother was not one to accept a “no,” when she had spent time at her wood cookstove, preparing food. The final results was that I did eat that stew; then only when I had eaten my mother’s stew was I allowed to return to school – of course, I was late. I have never attempted to eat anything called mulligatawny stew – ever!
I do love eating at a smörgasbord. Now, there is a word that just “rolls off the tongue!” Sweden in origin, we use it, today, in our every day English language. We think of a any buffet as a smorgasbord. Lots of foods; great variety. I like to visit a buffet because it allows me to select those foods I’m allowed to eat. Yet, I don’t visit any buffet because I simply am not allowed to eat in the same fashion as in the past. Small amounts, four-to-six times a day, no fiber (that means no fresh fruits and vegetables – nothing with high fiber that hasn’t been chewed up by a smoothie blender). So, along with most of my favorite foods, the smörgasbord is out of my life.
Last of the foods I’ve chosen with unique names is the turducken. A turducken being a dish of de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck stuffed into a de-boned turkey – sounds like WAY TOO MUCH WORK for me. Just give me the chicken, straight. Or, the turkey, roasted. And, the duck – no thanks.
Here I am, once more, at the maximum number of words that I choose to use in a blog. So, look for “Words Worth Knowing, Part 4” soon.
Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are always welcome.
Leave a Reply