No time, no time, no time
Mary Kay Kare
New Orelans. And we're leaving at 6:15 in the morning to go to Oklahoma
for a week to spend the holidays with my family. No news, but email so if
you have to argue with me, better email it.
I'm still chewing on the Simpsons question. I'm beginning to thing maybe
I'm tone deaf to the way that series communicates. If you see what I
mean.
Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Joyous Solstice, what's the proper greeting
for Kwanza?
Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
MK
--
Mary Kay Kare
Science Fiction Fandom: where people contradict you just to be polite.
Doug Wickstrom
Kare) excited the ether to say:
>what's the proper greeting
>for Kwanza?
Make one up. Then it can be like the holiday.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"The police are not here to create disorder. They are here to preserve
disorder." --Richard Daley
P Nielsen Hayden
-asok02--068.sirius.net>:
>I'm still chewing on the Simpsons question. I'm beginning to thing
>maybe I'm tone deaf to the way that series communicates. If you see
>what I mean.
Don't worry about it. The few times I ever watched bits of SEINFIELD,
I stared at the screen and said "This is supposed to be funny?" It
literally does not make me laugh. Without getting into whether it's
great art or not, it's obvious to me that tens of millions of people
are getting something that I just Don't.
>Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Joyous Solstice, what's the proper
>greeting for Kwanza?
>
>Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
Very merry happy to you too.
--
Patrick Nielsen Hayden : p...@panix.com : http://www.panix.com/~pnh
Elizabeth Blatt
ka...@sirius.com (Mary Kay Kare) wrote:
> Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Joyous Solstice, what's the proper greeting
> for Kwanza?
>
> Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
An announcer on a local radio station--I forget which one--says
"Merry Kwanzannukah" as a sort of three-in-one.
--Elizabeth
Avram Grumer
nims...@worldnet.att.net wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Dec 1999 20:48:31 -0800, ka...@sirius.com (Mary Kay
> Kare) excited the ether to say:
>
> >what's the proper greeting for Kwanza?
>
> Make one up. Then it can be like the holiday.
Are there any holidays which weren't made up?
--
Avram Grumer | Any sufficiently advanced
Home: av...@bigfoot.com | technology is indistinguishable
http://www.PigsAndFishes.org | from an error message.
Kevin J. Maroney
>Avram Grumer <av...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>> nims...@worldnet.att.net wrote:
>>> Make one up. Then it can be like the holiday.
>> Are there any holidays which weren't made up?
>I will take the tedious position that the winter solstice is a physically
>significant astronomical occurrence, and therefore is not "made up".
The solstice is not "made up", but celebrating it is a "made up"
occurrence.
--
Kevin Maroney | kmar...@crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://www.nyrsf.com
Kip Williams
>
> In article <kare-20129...@ppp-asok02--068.sirius.net>,
> ka...@sirius.com (Mary Kay Kare) wrote:
>
> > for Kwanza?
> >
> > Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
>
> An announcer on a local radio station--I forget which one--says
> "Merry Kwanzannukah" as a sort of three-in-one.
As Krusty the Klown said recently, "...so have a Krazy Kristmas, a
Ha-ha-Happy Hannukah, a Kwazy Kwanzaa, and a dignified and respectful
Ramadan..."
--
--Kip (Williams)
amusing the world at http://members.home.net/kipw/
Andrew Plotkin
> In article <1r2u5skmcv4burc6r...@4ax.com>,
> nims...@worldnet.att.net wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 20 Dec 1999 20:48:31 -0800, ka...@sirius.com (Mary Kay
>> Kare) excited the ether to say:
>>
>>
>
> Are there any holidays which weren't made up?
I will take the tedious position that the winter solstice is a physically
significant astronomical occurrence, and therefore is not "made up".
Then we can argue about the ontological value of "physically significant",
and whether any linguistic symbol can be said to be other than "made up".
Eventually the sun-god will weary of our pretension, and come stomping
back into the room to slap us around. Thus is the new year reborn.
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
mike weber
1999 12:02:35 GMT,
:
>ka...@sirius.com (Mary Kay Kare) wrote in <kare-2012992048310001@ppp
>-asok02--068.sirius.net>:
>
>>I'm still chewing on the Simpsons question. I'm beginning to thing
>>maybe I'm tone deaf to the way that series communicates. If you see
>>what I mean.
>
>
>Don't worry about it. The few times I ever watched bits of SEINFIELD,
>I stared at the screen and said "This is supposed to be funny?" It
>literally does not make me laugh. Without getting into whether it's
>great art or not, it's obvious to me that tens of millions of people
>are getting something that I just Don't.
>
also am totally bewildered by the popularity of Andy Kaufman
--
"History doesn't always repeat itself... sometimes it just
screams 'Why don't you listen when I'm talking to you?' and
lets fly with a club." JWC,Jr.
<mike weber> <kras...@mindspring.com>
Ambitious Incomplete web site: http://weberworld.virtualave.net
Richard Horton
>I love ther SImpsons, have likewise never s\laughed at "Seinfeld" and
>also am totally bewildered by the popularity of Andy Kaufman
I love the Simpsons, and am totally bewildered by the popularity of
Andy Kaufman. But I laughed early and often at Seinfeld. Though we
in St. Louis were often told that we were one of the earliest markets
to take to that show.
--
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard...@sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Also visit SF Site (http://www.sfsite.com) and Tangent Online (http://www.sfsite.com/tangent)
Kip Williams
when TVLand is going to show "Andy's Fun House"? Can't find it in a
search of TV listings, but it's supposed to be part of a marathon, which
may have already started.
Meantime, I'll see if the printed guide offers any clues.
Kip Williams
>
> Speaking of the sometimes inexplicable Andy Kaufman, does anyone know
> when TVLand is going to show "Andy's Fun House"? Can't find it in a
> search of TV listings, but it's supposed to be part of a marathon, which
> may have already started.
>
> Meantime, I'll see if the printed guide offers any clues.
>
too.
Milt Stevens
Mary Kay Kare wrote in message ...
>
>Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Joyous Solstice, what's the proper greeting
>for Kwanza?
>
>Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
Happy Humbug should cover it.
Elisabeth Carey
I could be mistaken, but I believe Mary Kay was intending to express
_happy_ and _friendly_ wishes, not gratuitous insults.
Lis Carey
Milt Stevens
Elisabeth Carey wrote in message <38619503...@mediaone.net>...
I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
Elisabeth Carey
For you, perhaps, which is sad, but not a justification for gratuitous
rudeness and unkindness to others.
But I suppose it's unfair and unkind of me, to expect anything more of
you.
Lis Carey
David G. Bell
Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" wrote:
> Elisabeth Carey wrote in message <38619503...@mediaone.net>...
> >Milt Stevens wrote:
> >>
> >> Mary Kay Kare wrote in message ...
> >> >
> >> >Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Joyous Solstice, what's the proper greeting
> >> >for Kwanza?
> >> >
> >> >Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
> >>
> >> Happy Humbug should cover it.
> >
> >I could be mistaken, but I believe Mary Kay was intending to express
> >_happy_ and _friendly_ wishes, not gratuitous insults.
> >
> >Lis Carey
>
> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
And Tiny Tim said, "Tip-toe through the tulips, every one!"
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
Andrew Plotkin
>
> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
Vicki Rosenzweig
>Milt Stevens <Sardo...@email.msn.com> wrote:
>>
>> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
>> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
>> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
>> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
>
>Yeah. Although I like the Watchdog too.
>
Also Canby and the Whether Man. Thanks: I think I know what
the bedtime reading is going to be for a bit.
--
Vicki Rosenzweig | v...@redbird.org
r.a.sf.f faq at http://www.redbird.org/rassef-faq.html
Sue Mason for TAFF!
Jo Walton
Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" writes:
> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
I was once given a Christmas card which had on the front a picture of
a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
laugh.
--
Jo - - I kissed a kif at Kefk - - J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk
http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk - Interstichia; Poetry; RASFW FAQ; etc.
Janice Gelb
>In article <OiXRLFYT$GA.269@cpmsnbbsa05>
> Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" writes:
>
>> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
>> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
>> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
>> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
>
>I was once given a Christmas card which had on the front a picture of
>a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
>it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
>laugh.
>
Evidently "humbug" as a sweet name was one of the things they
debated about keeping when they changed some of the British
expressions for the American version of the Harry Potter books.
(I've just finished the second one and they're great!) They
decided to keep "humbug" but removed some others (and, of
course, lost the pun about "Spellotape"). I'm hoping to find
someone here who has the British editions so I can check for
differences.
---
*********************************************************************
Janice Gelb | Just speaking for me, not Sun.
janic...@eng.sun.com | http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8018/
"The legal system prevents us from killing each other. The
etiquette system prevents us from driving each other crazy."
-- Miss Manners
Kip Williams
>
> In article <OiXRLFYT$GA.269@cpmsnbbsa05>
> Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" writes:
>
> > I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
> > years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
> > out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
> > think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
>
> I was once given a Christmas card which had on the front a picture of
> a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
> it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
> laugh.
Humbugs aren't as common over here... we'd probably look at the thing
and read it as "Ewe sweetie," or something similar.
Thanks to the miracle of context, though, I did divine what was going on
in the opening scene of "Blackadder's Christmas Carol," where Ebenezer
Blackadder, the Nicest Man in England, is shouting "Humbug" out his
window: he's offering candies to passers-by.
(So this spirit visits him and tells him about how they get people to
repent by showing them visions. Visions? asks Ebenezer. Oh, aye, says
the spirit. We used to use black and white line drawings, but visions
are much more effective.)
Andrew Plotkin
> In article 946027...@bluejo.demon.co.uk, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo Walton) writes:
>> Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" writes:
>>
>>> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
>>> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
>>> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
>>> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
>>
>>I was once given a Christmas card which had on the front a picture of
>>a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
>>it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
>>laugh.
Well, it's been a day or so and I'm still stuck. Hint? Would I ever have
heard the referent on this side of the Atlantic?
> Evidently "humbug" as a sweet name was one of the things they
> debated about keeping when they changed some of the British
> expressions for the American version of the Harry Potter books.
> (I've just finished the second one and they're great!) They
> decided to keep "humbug" but removed some others (and, of
> course, lost the pun about "Spellotape"). I'm hoping to find
> someone here who has the British editions so I can check for
> differences.
I got the British editions of all three ("Sorcerer's Stone" was enough of
a hint), but I haven't compared them to the American.
Jo Walton
erky...@eblong.com "Andrew Plotkin" writes:
> Janice Gelb <jan...@marvin.eng.sun.com> wrote:
> > In article 946027...@bluejo.demon.co.uk, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo Walton)
> writes:
> >>In article <OiXRLFYT$GA.269@cpmsnbbsa05>
> >> Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" writes:
> >>
> >>> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
> >>> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
> >>> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
> >>> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
> >>
> >>I was once given a Christmas card which had on the front a picture of
> >>a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
> >>it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
> >>laugh.
>
> Well, it's been a day or so and I'm still stuck. Hint? Would I ever have
> heard the referent on this side of the Atlantic?
"Baaah, humbug."
Dickens.
Tom Womack
"Jo Walton" <J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk> wrote
> I was once given a Christmas card which had on the front a picture of
> a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
> it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
> laugh.
I had a primary-school teacher who handed out humbugs to all and sundry at
Christmas time, which was reasonably entertaining ... to join threads, he
also suggested loudly to every child he came in contact with that learning
italic calligraphy would be a Good Thing. Which has left me with
right-angled-triangular As whenever I try writing on paper with a pen.
Aren't computers wonderful?
Tom
Jonathan J. Baker
> Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" wrote:
>> Elisabeth Carey wrote in message <38619503...@mediaone.net>...
>> >Milt Stevens wrote:
>> >> Mary Kay Kare wrote in message ...
>> >> >Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
>> >> Happy Humbug should cover it.
>> >I could be mistaken, but I believe Mary Kay was intending to express
>> >_happy_ and _friendly_ wishes, not gratuitous insults.
>> I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
>> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
>And Tiny Tim said, "Tip-toe through the tulips, every one!"
"Watchoo talkin' 'bout every one!" --Gary Coleman, on The Simpsons.
--
Jonathan Baker | Hanuca, Xmas, & Saturnalia all begin on 25th of
jjb...@panix.com | the Winter Solstice Month. Coincidence?
Ailsa N Murphy
Vicki Rosenzweig <v...@redbird.org> wrote:
>On 24 Dec 1999 15:17:01 GMT, Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>>Milt Stevens <Sardo...@email.msn.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
>>> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
>>
>>
>Also Canby and the Whether Man. Thanks: I think I know what
>the bedtime reading is going to be for a bit.
Be very quiet, for it goes without saying.
-Ailsa
who is going to start reading that to Kathy again
--
There is no forgetting sorrow an...@world.std.com
There is no regretting love Ailsa N.T. Murphy
All we really do is borrow all the dreams we're dreaming of
We can never know tomorrow, all we have is giving love today
-Midge Ure
Dave Weingart
>>Also Canby and the Whether Man. Thanks: I think I know what
>>the bedtime reading is going to be for a bit.
>
>Be very quiet, for it goes without saying.
Anyone for a "Conclusions in '04" bid? Airfare will be cheap.
--
73 de Dave Weingart KA2ESK O, what can ail thee, geek-at-arms
mailto:phyd...@liii.com Alone and slowly telnetting?
http://www.liii.com/~phydeaux The net has crumbled from the load
And no hosts ping
Ailsa N Murphy
Dave Weingart <phyd...@liii.com> wrote:
>One day in Teletubbyland, an...@world.std.com (Ailsa N Murphy) said:
>>>Also Canby and the Whether Man. Thanks: I think I know what
>>>the bedtime reading is going to be for a bit.
>>
>>Be very quiet, for it goes without saying.
>
>Anyone for a "Conclusions in '04" bid? Airfare will be cheap.
But it's such a long swim back.
-Ailsa
Vicki Rosenzweig
>One day in Teletubbyland, an...@world.std.com (Ailsa N Murphy) said:
>>>Also Canby and the Whether Man. Thanks: I think I know what
>>>the bedtime reading is going to be for a bit.
>>
>>Be very quiet, for it goes without saying.
>
>Anyone for a "Conclusions in '04" bid? Airfare will be cheap.
It *sounds* good, but while the airfare *to* the con will be
cheap, it's expensive to leave: you know what one-way tickets
are like.
Julie Stampnitzky
> In article 946027...@bluejo.demon.co.uk, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo Walton) writes:
> >
> >I was once given a Christmas card which had on the front a picture of
> >a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
> >it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
> >laugh.
>
> Evidently "humbug" as a sweet name was one of the things they
> debated about keeping when they changed some of the British
> expressions for the American version of the Harry Potter books.
Coincidentally, I first noticed the word "humbug" a few weeks ago while
reading _Wyrd Sisters_. (The witches snack on them while watching a play.)
I wasn't sure whether the "boiled humbugs" actually existed in Britain, or
if this was some Discworld food, there to make a point about the nature of
the stage. (I tended towards the latter choice, and pictured the humbug as
a sort of fruit.) Then a few days ago I read John Mortimer's _Clinging to
the Wreckage_, which among other things mentioned mint-flavored humbugs.
So what do these things actually look like?
--
Julie Stampnitzky |"I hope you can imagine my furious joy,
Rehovot, Israel |scribbling away in the lamplight, sometimes
http://www.yucs.org/~jules |surprising myself with what I think, and how I
http://neskaya.darkover.cx |choose to express it." (_Freedom & Necessity_)
Nancy Lebovitz
Jo Walton <J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <842o3c$i2a$1...@nntp4.atl.mindspring.net>
> erky...@eblong.com "Andrew Plotkin" writes:
>
>> > In article 946027...@bluejo.demon.co.uk, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo Walton)
>> writes:
>> >> Sardo...@email.msn.com "Milt Stevens" writes:
>> >>
>> >>> years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
>> >>> out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
>> >>> think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
>> >>
>> >>a sheep and a picture of a striped boiled sweet. It took me longer than
>> >>it should have of squinting at it to work out the intended message and
>> >>laugh.
>>
>> heard the referent on this side of the Atlantic?
>
>"Baaah, humbug."
>
>Dickens.
>
US.
Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
a boiled sweet?
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com
October '99 calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
Dave Weingart
>Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>a boiled sweet?
A well known side-dish at the worst meat-pie shop in all of London.
--
73 de Dave Weingart KA2ESK O, what can ail thee, geek-at-arms
mailto:phyd...@liii.com Alone and slowly telnetting?
http://www.liii.com/~phydeaux The net has crumbled from the load
ICQ 57055207 And no hosts ping
Rachael Lininger
Dave Weingart <phyd...@liii.com> wrote:
>One day in Teletubbyland, na...@unix3.netaxs.com (Nancy Lebovitz) said:
>>Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>>a boiled sweet?
>
>A well known side-dish at the worst meat-pie shop in all of London.
Not Mrs. Lovett's, I presume? Or was that in the pre-Sweeny days?
Rachael
--
Rachael Lininger | "It's good to know an assassin
lininger@ | you can hire with a can of tuna fish."
chem.wisc.edu | --Rocco da Mallet
Rob Hansen
wrote:
>Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>a boiled sweet?
Umm, a hard candy, maybe? Not knowing the US equivalent term makes
this difficult.
--
Rob Hansen
================================================
My Home Page: http://www.fiawol.demon.co.uk/rob/
Feminists Against Censorship:
http://www.fiawol.demon.co.uk/FAC/
Avram Grumer
Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
> Then a few days ago I read John Mortimer's _Clinging to the Wreckage_,
> which among other things mentioned mint-flavored humbugs.
> So what do these things actually look like?
There's a picture at <http://www.sela.co.uk/html/bug_make.html>. Scroll
to the bottom for the finished humbugs. Or just look at
<http://www.sela.co.uk/assets/images/stripe14.jpg>.
--
Avram Grumer | Any sufficiently advanced
Home: av...@bigfoot.com | technology is indistinguishable
http://www.PigsAndFishes.org | from an error message.
Ulrika O'Brien
<r...@fiawol.demon.co.uk>, explained :
> On 28 Dec 1999 13:47:43 GMT, na...@unix3.netaxs.com (Nancy Lebovitz)
> wrote:
>
> >Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
> >a boiled sweet?
>
> Umm, a hard candy, maybe? Not knowing the US equivalent term makes
> this difficult.
Hard candy it is. Trouble is, candy making just doesn't seem to
have much currency over here, so the self-explanatory nature of
"boiled sweet" isn't. Boiled sweets are, presumably sweets (candies)
whose sugar mixture has been brought to a boil, which
I'm guessing is also the hard-ball stage.
But we don't have humbugs over here. Well, not the candies,
anyway.
--
Daily Affirmation: The complete lack of evidence is
the surest sign that the conspiracy is working.
ulrika o'brien * uaob...@earthlink.net * member fwa
Ulrika O'Brien
<lis....@mediaone.net>, explained :
> Milt Stevens wrote:
> >
> > Elisabeth Carey wrote in message <38619503...@mediaone.net>...
> > >Milt Stevens wrote:
> > >>
> > >> Mary Kay Kare wrote in message ...
> > >> >
> > >> >Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Joyous Solstice, what's the proper greeting
> > >> >for Kwanza?
> > >> >
> > >> >Merry Winter Festival of Your Choice.
> > >>
> > >> Happy Humbug should cover it.
> > >
> > >I could be mistaken, but I believe Mary Kay was intending to express
> > >_happy_ and _friendly_ wishes, not gratuitous insults.
> > >
> > >Lis Carey
> >
> > I've been using Happy Humbug as a solstice greeting for at least forty
> > years, and I think I picked it up from my father. I know other fans send
> > out Happy Humbug cards, because I've received them. Whatever else you may
> > think of this time of year, tis certainly the season for Humbug.
>
> For you, perhaps, which is sad, but not a justification for gratuitous
> rudeness and unkindness to others.
>
> But I suppose it's unfair and unkind of me, to expect anything more of
> you.
Or perhaps it was just humorless and hypersensitive of you.
I'm pretty sure that Milt didn't mean to be either rude or
unkind, and I think you've done a fine job of overreacting
to a silly bit of lightheartedness.
Jo Walton
na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
> Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
> a boiled sweet?
Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
How much ground does "candy" cover for goodness sake? Everything from
a humbug to a Mars bar?
I feel like someone who has 500 words for snow, trying to explain
about the whole category of large-flake snow.
Boiled sweets are non-chewy suckable sweets.
Er, Avedon? Someone? Is this something we should auction for TAFF?
P Nielsen Hayden
<gidi6soi4978ue48h...@4ax.com>:
>By coincidence, I just happened to re-read _The Phantom Tollbooth_
>last month. (I almost literally stumbled across a used book store in
>the West Village while waiting for Bernadette and found a hardcover
>of it in delightfully pristine condition for $5.) It's very, very
>close to being exactly as good as I remember it being, which is to
>say that it might well be the best childrens' novel of the century.
My kid brother's older son is named after the hero of THE PHANTOM
TOLLBOTH: Milo.
--
Patrick Nielsen Hayden : p...@panix.com : http://www.panix.com/~pnh
Kevin J. Maroney
>On 24 Dec 1999 15:17:01 GMT, Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>>Yeah. Although I like the Watchdog too.
>>
>Also Canby and the Whether Man. Thanks: I think I know what
>the bedtime reading is going to be for a bit.
By coincidence, I just happened to re-read _The Phantom Tollbooth_
last month. (I almost literally stumbled across a used book store in
the West Village while waiting for Bernadette and found a hardcover of
it in delightfully pristine condition for $5.) It's very, very close
to being exactly as good as I remember it being, which is to say that
it might well be the best childrens' novel of the century.
--
Kevin Maroney | kmar...@crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://www.nyrsf.com
bdaverin
Walton) wrote:
> In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
> na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
> > Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part.
> What's
> > a boiled sweet?
> Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
> dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
> ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
I think I know the USAn term for humbug now. Hard candies. What shape
is a humbug, and what flavors can it come in? Or is humbug a generic
term for all the ones you mention?
--
Brenda Daverin
bdav...@grin.net
* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
Andrew Plotkin
> In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
> na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
>
>> Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>> a boiled sweet?
>
> Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
> dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
> ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
You flail with great verve, but I still haven't learned anything.
> How much ground does "candy" cover for goodness sake? Everything from
> a humbug to a Mars bar?
Keep in mind that (in my ignorance) "boiled sweet" may be a *small*
category. You'll have to flail and tell me what it *isn't*, as well. :)
And yes, "candy" covers a large range now.
> I feel like someone who has 500 words for snow, trying to explain
> about the whole category of large-flake snow.
>
> Boiled sweets are non-chewy suckable sweets.
Okay, *that* clears it up.
I believe the exact American equivalent is "hard candy".
If I were asked to define it, I'd say any candy which is just sugar and
flavoring (no fat), and whose water content is in the "hard crack" phase
(boiled to 310F or so? I don't have my books here).
Rachael Lininger
Andrew Plotkin <erky...@eblong.com> wrote:
>Jo Walton <J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> Boiled sweets are non-chewy suckable sweets.
>
>Okay, *that* clears it up.
>
>I believe the exact American equivalent is "hard candy".
>
>If I were asked to define it, I'd say any candy which is just sugar and
>flavoring (no fat), and whose water content is in the "hard crack" phase
>(boiled to 310F or so? I don't have my books here).
Yes and yes. It is also my least favorite sort of candy, so I can see why
they're called humbugs. "Boiled sweets" means that they've boiled the
sweet and it's now dead and should be politely buried.
Humbug, I say. Humbug.
Jonathan Guthrie
> In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.991228...@yucs.org>, Julie
> Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
>> Then a few days ago I read John Mortimer's _Clinging to the Wreckage_,
>> which among other things mentioned mint-flavored humbugs.
>> So what do these things actually look like?
> There's a picture at <http://www.sela.co.uk/html/bug_make.html>. Scroll
> to the bottom for the finished humbugs. Or just look at
> <http://www.sela.co.uk/assets/images/stripe14.jpg>.
You know, my father used to design plants to make carbon black. I always
knew that, in addition to paints, dyes, and tires, carbon black went into
candies, but this is the first time I've ever actually seen a reference
(step 1 on that page) to carbon black in relation to candy.
Jo Walton
ju...@yucs.org "Julie Stampnitzky" writes:
> Coincidentally, I first noticed the word "humbug" a few weeks ago while
> reading _Wyrd Sisters_. (The witches snack on them while watching a play.)
> I wasn't sure whether the "boiled humbugs" actually existed in Britain, or
> if this was some Discworld food, there to make a point about the nature of
> the stage. (I tended towards the latter choice, and pictured the humbug as
> a sort of fruit.) Then a few days ago I read John Mortimer's _Clinging to
> the Wreckage_, which among other things mentioned mint-flavored humbugs.
> So what do these things actually look like?
Like a humbug... like a black and white oval wasp a bit over an inch
long and about 3\4 of an inch in diameter. (Without any legs.) They
taste hot and minty and I don't like them.
Andy Hickmott
>One day in Teletubbyland, na...@unix3.netaxs.com (Nancy Lebovitz) said:
>>Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>>a boiled sweet?
>
>A well known side-dish at the worst meat-pie shop in all of London.
>
I thought that was a boiled swede.
--
Andy Hickmott
How fleeting are all human passions compared with
the massive continuity of ducks. [Dorothy Sayers]
Ulrika O'Brien
<hick...@interport.net>, explained :
> On 28 Dec 1999 14:34:59 GMT, phyd...@liii.com (Dave Weingart) wrote:
>
> >One day in Teletubbyland, na...@unix3.netaxs.com (Nancy Lebovitz) said:
> >>Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
> >>a boiled sweet?
> >
> >A well known side-dish at the worst meat-pie shop in all of London.
> >
>
> I thought that was a boiled swede.
Or, if you're French, boiled suede.
Alan Woodford
wrote:
>In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.991228...@yucs.org>, Julie
>Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
>
>> Then a few days ago I read John Mortimer's _Clinging to the Wreckage_,
>> which among other things mentioned mint-flavored humbugs.
>> So what do these things actually look like?
>
>There's a picture at <http://www.sela.co.uk/html/bug_make.html>. Scroll
>to the bottom for the finished humbugs. Or just look at
><http://www.sela.co.uk/assets/images/stripe14.jpg>.
>
Thanks for that, Avram. The factory is only a couple of streets from
where I was born, so it is probably fair to say that I grew up on
their humbugs and cough sweets.
Interestingly, they were on local TV a few weeks ago, appealing for
people to become apprentice sugar boilers.
Oh, and check out the rest of the site, especially the Millenihumbugs!
Alan "Feeling hungry at the moment!" Woodford
Men in Frocks, protecting the Earth with mystical flummery!
Doug Wickstrom
O'Brien) excited the ether to say:
>Hard candy it is. Trouble is, candy making just doesn't seem to
>have much currency over here, so the self-explanatory nature of
>"boiled sweet" isn't. Boiled sweets are, presumably sweets (candies)
>whose sugar mixture has been brought to a boil, which
>I'm guessing is also the hard-ball stage.
Hard crack, by my thermometer.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"Old age brings pleasant memories, sometimes of things that really happened."
--Don Kirkman
kcam...@cix.compulink.co.uk
<wtBoOM+2VRyX03...@4ax.com>, r...@fiawol.demon.co.uk (Rob Hansen)
wrote:
> On 28 Dec 1999 13:47:43 GMT, na...@unix3.netaxs.com (Nancy Lebovitz)
> wrote:
>
> >Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
> >a boiled sweet?
>
> Umm, a hard candy, maybe? Not knowing the US equivalent term makes
> this difficult.
> --
Anything that is vaguely like a LifeSaver, but not necessarily round with a
hole in the middle.
Kim :-)
--
KIM Campbell
Convener: UK in '05
A bid for the World Science Fiction Convention
Julie Stampnitzky
> In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
> na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
>
> > Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
> > a boiled sweet?
>
> Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
> dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
> ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
I would most likely call those "sucking candies." But apparently American
sucking candies don't come in the same exotic flavors as British boiled
sweets. The basic types are: fruit-flavored (the "flavors" are red,
orange, yellow, and green); mint flavored (these are usually red-and-white
striped, sometimes turquoise); and butterscotch.
> How much ground does "candy" cover for goodness sake? Everything from
> a humbug to a Mars bar?
Yes, absolutely. (That is, it is a type of candy, but not "a candy," which
suggests a bite-sized piece of candy.)
How much ground does "sweet" cover?
> Er, Avedon? Someone? Is this something we should auction for TAFF?
An assortment of British candy would be a fine item for an auction in
America, I think.
P Nielsen Hayden
<Pine.LNX.4.10.99122...@yucs.org>:
>On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Jo Walton wrote:
>> Er, Avedon? Someone? Is this something we should auction for TAFF?
>
>An assortment of British candy would be a fine item for an auction in
>America, I think.
Ideally, accompanied by Jon Singer delivering a reading of the
Digusting English Candy Drill from GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. One of the
funniest scenes in the history of literature, and Jon was born to
perform it.
Avedon Carol
wrote:
>In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
> na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
>
>> Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>> a boiled sweet?
>
>Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
>dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
>ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
>
>How much ground does "candy" cover for goodness sake? Everything from
>a humbug to a Mars bar?
Yep. Your basic boiled sweet ("hard candy") would be "a candy", as I
suppose would a single chocolate truffle (although I expect most
people would call it "a chocolate"). A Mars Bar is "a candy" or "a
bar of candy" or "a candybar". It's all candy.
>Boiled sweets are non-chewy suckable sweets.
>
>Er, Avedon? Someone? Is this something we should auction for TAFF?
I'm not sure I've ever seen anything officially labelled a "humbug".
However, America has no shortage of hard candies, so it would have to
be pretty special to be sufficiently exotic to be interesting in and
of itself, rather than merely because it was minted in Britain. (Mind
you, I'm all for auctioning PG Tips off - superficially, it's just
ordinary breakfast tea like you can get all over America, but it's
unquestionably less bitter and has a nicer flavor than your standard
Tetley's or McCormack or whatever people grew up on in the US.)
Avedon (who is sucking on hard candies a lot lately because of this
stupid cold)
Nancy Lebovitz
Julie Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
>On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Jo Walton wrote:
>
>> In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
>> na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
>>
>> > Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>> > a boiled sweet?
>>
>> Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
>> dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
>> ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
>
>sucking candies don't come in the same exotic flavors as British boiled
>sweets. The basic types are: fruit-flavored (the "flavors" are red,
>orange, yellow, and green); mint flavored (these are usually red-and-white
>striped, sometimes turquoise); and butterscotch.
>
Peppermint is the most common mint, but I've also had spearmint candy.
I haven't gotten a roll of life-savers (smallish toroidal hard candies)
in a while, but they used to do a tropical fruit mix that included
coconut and, iirc, melon.
They also did rum-flavored life-savers, a candy so foul-tasting that
when I was given one I thought it was a practical joke.
Nancy Lebovitz
Jo Walton <J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
> na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
>
>> Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>> a boiled sweet?
>
>Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
>dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
>ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
Sounds interesting, especially the licorice-and-blackcurrant or the
sherbet lemons. How are the sherbet lemons different from ordinary
lemon candy?
Let's get those mints completely pinned down. There's a common form
around here called something like starlight mints--slightly thick
disks (not wafers) with red pinwheels. What shape are humbugs, and
which way do the stripes go?
>
>How much ground does "candy" cover for goodness sake? Everything from
>a humbug to a Mars bar?
>
>I feel like someone who has 500 words for snow, trying to explain
>about the whole category of large-flake snow.
>
>Boiled sweets are non-chewy suckable sweets.
All clear now--as has been pointed out, they're called hard candies in
the US.
When I saw "boiled sweets", I thought they might be something with a
noticable water and starch content, but firmer than a pudding.
>
>Er, Avedon? Someone? Is this something we should auction for TAFF?
>
The weird flavors might be of interest.
P Nielsen Hayden
<jm2k6sonunttmtsbb...@4ax.com>:
>I'm not sure I've ever seen anything officially labelled a "humbug".
>However, America has no shortage of hard candies, so it would have to
>be pretty special to be sufficiently exotic to be interesting in and
>of itself, rather than merely because it was minted in Britain.
Oh, I dunno, I think a judicious selection of some of those astounding
British hard-candy flavors would attract some interest. Particularly
the camphorated fruit-menthol combinations. The ones that make your
tongue stick out of your mouth and wave a little sign inscribed ON
STRIKE.
>(Mind
>you, I'm all for auctioning PG Tips off - superficially, it's just
>ordinary breakfast tea like you can get all over America, but it's
>unquestionably less bitter and has a nicer flavor than your standard
>Tetley's or McCormack or whatever people grew up on in the US.)
Indeed it does. I'm drinking a cup of it right now. Say, isn't this
standard rasff conversation number 437.6?
Ailsa N Murphy
Julie Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
>
>I would most likely call those "sucking candies." But apparently American
>sucking candies don't come in the same exotic flavors as British boiled
>sweets. The basic types are: fruit-flavored (the "flavors" are red,
>orange, yellow, and green); mint flavored (these are usually red-and-white
>striped, sometimes turquoise); and butterscotch.
>
contents of a candy dish, IME, are butterscotch rounds, red and white
peppermints, rootbeer barrels, and blue wintergreen things. Or, at
least, that was standard when I was a kid. In these decadent times,
they put Tootsie Rolls and such.
>> How much ground does "candy" cover for goodness sake? Everything from
>> a humbug to a Mars bar?
>
>Yes, absolutely. (That is, it is a type of candy, but not "a candy," which
>suggests a bite-sized piece of candy.)
>How much ground does "sweet" cover?
>
And cotton candy, and toffee, and even in-between things liek Twix
bars, which are wafer cookies with caramel and chocolate covering.
>> Er, Avedon? Someone? Is this something we should auction for TAFF?
>
>An assortment of British candy would be a fine item for an auction in
>America, I think.
>
Agreed. I am saving my Musk Lifesavers and doling them out very very
slowly, since I have no idea when I'll get more. I do give them to
friends who've never tried them, though, but they don't seem to be as
fond of them as I am.
-Ailsa
--
There is no forgetting sorrow an...@world.std.com
There is no regretting love Ailsa N.T. Murphy
All we really do is borrow all the dreams we're dreaming of
We can never know tomorrow, all we have is giving love today
-Midge Ure
Ailsa N Murphy
Nancy Lebovitz <na...@unix3.netaxs.com> wrote:
>They also did rum-flavored life-savers, a candy so foul-tasting that
>when I was given one I thought it was a practical joke.
Hmph. Butter rum is the best Lifesaver Flavor. Well, OK, except
for musk.
James Nicoll
P Nielsen Hayden <p...@panix.com> wrote:
>ave...@cix.co.uk (Avedon Carol) wrote in
><jm2k6sonunttmtsbb...@4ax.com>:
>
>>I'm not sure I've ever seen anything officially labelled a "humbug".
>>However, America has no shortage of hard candies, so it would have to
>>be pretty special to be sufficiently exotic to be interesting in and
>>of itself, rather than merely because it was minted in Britain.
>
>
>Oh, I dunno, I think a judicious selection of some of those astounding
>British hard-candy flavors would attract some interest. Particularly
>the camphorated fruit-menthol combinations. The ones that make your
>tongue stick out of your mouth and wave a little sign inscribed ON
>STRIKE.
My exgf was delighted to discover those when we visited Jo
back in '98 and has asked for additional shipments since. For some
reason, the store in Waterloo which specialised in importing British
sweets doesn't bring in those.
James Nicoll
James Nicoll
--
Mike Kozlowski
Avedon Carol <ave...@cix.co.uk> wrote:
>On Tue, 28 Dec 99 19:13:39 GMT, J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk (Jo Walton)
>wrote:
>>How much ground does "candy" cover for goodness sake? Everything from
>>a humbug to a Mars bar?
>
>Yep. Your basic boiled sweet ("hard candy") would be "a candy", as I
>suppose would a single chocolate truffle (although I expect most
>people would call it "a chocolate"). A Mars Bar is "a candy" or "a
>bar of candy" or "a candybar". It's all candy.
Actually, in my experience, "a candy" is a very rare phrase. I might
refer to a hard candy as "a candy", but I'd never use that phrase when
referring to a Mars bar. A Mars bar is candy, but if I'm using an
article, it's a candy bar.
--
Michael Kozlowski
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mkozlows/
Ulrika O'Brien
<nims...@worldnet.att.net>, explained :
> On Tue, 28 Dec 1999 20:09:53 GMT, uaob...@earthlink.net (Ulrika
> O'Brien) excited the ether to say:
>
> >Hard candy it is. Trouble is, candy making just doesn't seem to
> >have much currency over here, so the self-explanatory nature of
> >"boiled sweet" isn't. Boiled sweets are, presumably sweets (candies)
> >whose sugar mixture has been brought to a boil, which
> >I'm guessing is also the hard-ball stage.
>
> Hard crack, by my thermometer.
Right. Meant that. You can tell how often *I* make
candy... Though if I can get a decent nut grinder and
a line on some bitter almonds, I may yet try my hand
at marzipan.
Jason Stokes
wrote:
>Actually, in my experience, "a candy" is a very rare phrase. I might
>refer to a hard candy as "a candy", but I'd never use that phrase when
>referring to a Mars bar. A Mars bar is candy, but if I'm using an
>article, it's a candy bar.
"Candy" is not a count noun, it's a mass noun, at least as I understood
it.
*A candy
Some candy.
*Three candies.
Three portions of candy.
Amerenglish might have weirded this up, though.
--
Jason Stokes: js...@bluedog.apana.org.au
aRJay
<jgut...@brokersys.com> writes
>Avram Grumer <av...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>> In article <Pine.LNX.4.10.991228...@yucs.org>, Julie
>> Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
>
>>> Then a few days ago I read John Mortimer's _Clinging to the Wreckage_,
>>> which among other things mentioned mint-flavored humbugs.
>>> So what do these things actually look like?
>
>> There's a picture at <http://www.sela.co.uk/html/bug_make.html>. Scroll
>> to the bottom for the finished humbugs. Or just look at
>> <http://www.sela.co.uk/assets/images/stripe14.jpg>.
>
The things you learn on RASFF. I always thought carbon was naturally
black I never realised it had to be made that colour. Which begs the
question what is carbons natural colour?
Sorry.
--
How does a rocket/jet engine work?
"It's not that hard.
Stuff goes in, stuff happens, stuff goes out faster than it came in."
- Ian Stirling
aRJay
Rachael Lininger
Ulrika O'Brien <uaob...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Right. Meant that. You can tell how often *I* make
>candy... Though if I can get a decent nut grinder and
>a line on some bitter almonds, I may yet try my hand
>at marzipan.
I am told they can be found at Hungarian markets.
Avram Grumer
js...@bluedog.apana.org.au (Jason Stokes) wrote:
> "Candy" is not a count noun, it's a mass noun, at least as I
> understood it.
It's pretty much the same in the US.
--
Avram Grumer | Any sufficiently advanced
Home: av...@bigfoot.com | technology is indistinguishable
http://www.PigsAndFishes.org | from an error message.
Avram Grumer
Lebovitz) wrote:
> They also did rum-flavored life-savers, a candy so foul-tasting
> that when I was given one I thought it was a practical joke.
I've never had those (unless you mean butter rum, which I thought were
fine), but I had a similar reaction to jalapeno Jelly Bellies.
Ulrika O'Brien
<an...@world.std.com>, explained :
> In article <84d68o$f...@netaxs.com>,
> Nancy Lebovitz <na...@unix3.netaxs.com> wrote:
> >They also did rum-flavored life-savers, a candy so foul-tasting that
> >when I was given one I thought it was a practical joke.
>
> Hmph. Butter rum is the best Lifesaver Flavor. Well, OK, except
> for musk.
Butter rum I quite like. Musk is so amazingly nasty and rank it
must be tried to be believed. If you like it, I'd be happy to
sell you the roll I got in a recent fan fund auction. (The
Things I Do For DUFF...)
Ulrika O'Brien
explained :
> On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Jo Walton wrote:
>
> > In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
> > na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
> >
> > > Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
> > > a boiled sweet?
> >
> > Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
> > dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
> > ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
>
> I would most likely call those "sucking candies." But apparently American
> sucking candies don't come in the same exotic flavors as British boiled
> sweets. The basic types are: fruit-flavored (the "flavors" are red,
> orange, yellow, and green); mint flavored (these are usually red-and-white
> striped, sometimes turquoise); and butterscotch.
Oh, no, there's lots beyond those. There's lemon drops, and the ones
my Mom used to get for road trips which came in coffee, licorice, or
chocolate. Jolly Ranchers come in a wide variety of real fruit
flavors, as do some other brands. My grandfather was particularly
taken with the peach and watermelon flavored ones I brought him on
one visit -- they don't do peach flavored hard candy in Sweden, or
at least didn't at the time. Some of the "mint" hard candies are
really cinnamon, which I used to find kinda nasty. There's rootbeer,
and horehounds, which are, naturally, horehound flavored, whatever
that is. I think anise is different, and I've had those and liked
them, though none quite like the anise flavored hard candy I remember
from Stockholm.
One of the things you don't get over here, though, are the satiny-
looking hard candies that have softer centers, in flavors like
praline and hazelnut. I dunno if the English do those, but the
Swedes do.
I must say that licorice-and-blackcurrant as a combination sounds
sort of intriguing. Haven't seen those over here.
Marcus L. Rowland
>Oh, I dunno, I think a judicious selection of some of those astounding
>British hard-candy flavors would attract some interest. Particularly
>the camphorated fruit-menthol combinations. The ones that make your
>tongue stick out of your mouth and wave a little sign inscribed ON
>STRIKE.
>
Look out for "Winter Mixture", which adds things like oil of cloves and
eucalyptus flavours.
--
Marcus L. Rowland
http://www.ffutures.demon.co.uk/ http://www.forgottenfutures.com/
"We are all victims of this slime. They... ...fill our mailboxes with gibberish
that would get them indicted if people had time to press charges"
[Hunter S. Thompson predicts junk e-mail, 1985 (from Generation of Swine)]
Dave Weingart
>I am told they can be found at Hungarian markets.
Seems an awfully long way to go just for bitter almonds. Unless
Ulrika is planning on being in Hungary anyway.
--
73 de Dave Weingart KA2ESK O, what can ail thee, geek-at-arms
mailto:phyd...@liii.com Alone and slowly telnetting?
http://www.liii.com/~phydeaux The net has crumbled from the load
ICQ 57055207 And no hosts ping
Jo Walton
jam...@morse.uwaterloo.ca "James Nicoll" writes:
> In article <8EAB6BB...@166.84.0.240>,
> P Nielsen Hayden <p...@panix.com> wrote:
> >Oh, I dunno, I think a judicious selection of some of those astounding
> >British hard-candy flavors would attract some interest. Particularly
> >the camphorated fruit-menthol combinations. The ones that make your
> >tongue stick out of your mouth and wave a little sign inscribed ON
> >STRIKE.
>
> My exgf was delighted to discover those when we visited Jo
> back in '98 and has asked for additional shipments since. For some
> reason, the store in Waterloo which specialised in importing British
> sweets doesn't bring in those.
Well they're very nasty.
I found some unmentholated elderberry ones last summer, which I have been
sucking whenever I've had a sore throat. They have the great advantage
that Sasha doesn't like them.
Have the ones I posted to your exgf for Christmas arrived? There's a
book with them.
--
Jo - - I kissed a kif at Kefk - - J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk
http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk - Interstichia; Poetry; RASFW FAQ; etc.
Jo Walton
na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
> In article <946408...@bluejo.demon.co.uk>,
> Jo Walton <J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> >In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
> > na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
> >
> >> Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
> >> a boiled sweet?
> >
> >Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
> >dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
> >ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
>
> Sounds interesting, especially the licorice-and-blackcurrant or the
> sherbet lemons. How are the sherbet lemons different from ordinary
> lemon candy?
They're hard lemon stuff, with lemon sherbet in the middle. So you're
sucking and sucking and then _surprise_!
There used to be strawberry sherbets too and may still be.
> Let's get those mints completely pinned down. There's a common form
> around here called something like starlight mints--slightly thick
> disks (not wafers) with red pinwheels. What shape are humbugs, and
> which way do the stripes go?
They're like slightly flattened grapes. The stripes go lengthways, l/i/k/e/
a/ w/a/s/p/.
There are also aniseed humbugs, though I only know one place that stocks
them - the newsagent by the lights by Dalton Square in Lancaster. I only
know one person who likes them, who lives in Cambridge.
bdaverin
uaob...@earthlink.net (Ulrika O'Brien) wrote:
> One of the things you don't get over here, though, are the satiny-
> looking hard candies that have softer centers, in flavors like
> praline and hazelnut.
I don't recall them in those precise flavors, but I distinctly remember
having candies just like the ones you describe which were bought in
American shops when I was a child. The first time I had them, I found
them odd, but I grew to like them. Or are you strictly referring to the
flavor types? I know that many of the candies I've eaten which are
wrapped with strawberry-patterned wrappers are satiny outside and
soft-centered within.
--
Brenda Daverin
bdav...@grin.net
* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
Rachael Lininger
Dave Weingart <phyd...@liii.com> wrote:
>One day in Teletubbyland, lini...@chem.wisc.edu said:
>>I am told they can be found at Hungarian markets.
>
>Seems an awfully long way to go just for bitter almonds. Unless
>Ulrika is planning on being in Hungary anyway.
Marzipan sounds like a great reason to go.
Do you really need bitter almonds, though? My recipe doesn't mention
them. What is the proportion of bitter almonds to cheap almonds, or should
they all be bitter? What do they taste like?
Scott Taylor
<avram-29129...@manhattan.crossover.com>...
>
> > They also did rum-flavored life-savers, a candy so foul-tasting
> > that when I was given one I thought it was a practical joke.
>
> fine), but I had a similar reaction to jalapeno Jelly Bellies.
Buttered Popcorn Jelly Bellies.
Possibly the most gruesome candy I have ever eaten in my life, although the
rum flavored life-savers came close.
(*I* was smart... I avoided the jalapeno Jelly Bellies as if they were
laden with the black plague and flesh-eating E.Coli as well... what a
hideous concept).
--
Scott Taylor
Freelancer for Hire
Have Powerbook, Will Travel
Scott Taylor
<MPG.12d3fb516...@news.earthlink.net>...
American
> > sucking candies don't come in the same exotic flavors as British boiled
> > sweets. The basic types are: fruit-flavored (the "flavors" are red,
> > orange, yellow, and green); mint flavored (these are usually
red-and-white
> > striped, sometimes turquoise); and butterscotch.
>
> Oh, no, there's lots beyond those. There's lemon drops, and the ones
> my Mom used to get for road trips which came in coffee, licorice, or
> chocolate. Jolly Ranchers come in a wide variety of real fruit
> flavors, as do some other brands. My grandfather was particularly
> taken with the peach and watermelon flavored ones I brought him on
> one visit -- they don't do peach flavored hard candy in Sweden, or
> at least didn't at the time. Some of the "mint" hard candies are
> really cinnamon, which I used to find kinda nasty. There's rootbeer,
> and horehounds, which are, naturally, horehound flavored, whatever
> that is. I think anise is different, and I've had those and liked
> them, though none quite like the anise flavored hard candy I remember
> from Stockholm.
A lot of these, you have to go looking for nowadays, since even a lot of
the candy shops don't have them anymore (horehound barrels... <slaver>).
But you can still find them if you go looking.
My favorite, which I find every once in a while (sometimes served as an
after dinner mint) is these little white mint things, which are filled with
milk chocolate... yummy!
The making of hard candies seems to be a dying art in the US, but by no
means a dead one... what doesn't seem to be common is naming the different
candies different names. More generally, they are simply titled by their
flavor, I think
James Nicoll
Jo Walton <J...@bluejo.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <84d9qb$69l$1...@watserv3.uwaterloo.ca>
> jam...@morse.uwaterloo.ca "James Nicoll" writes:
>
>> In article <8EAB6BB...@166.84.0.240>,
>> P Nielsen Hayden <p...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> >Oh, I dunno, I think a judicious selection of some of those astounding
>> >British hard-candy flavors would attract some interest. Particularly
>> >the camphorated fruit-menthol combinations. The ones that make your
>> >tongue stick out of your mouth and wave a little sign inscribed ON
>> >STRIKE.
>>
>> My exgf was delighted to discover those when we visited Jo
>> back in '98 and has asked for additional shipments since. For some
>> reason, the store in Waterloo which specialised in importing British
>> sweets doesn't bring in those.
>
>Well they're very nasty.
>
>I found some unmentholated elderberry ones last summer, which I have been
>sucking whenever I've had a sore throat. They have the great advantage
>that Sasha doesn't like them.
>
>Have the ones I posted to your exgf for Christmas arrived? There's a
>book with them.
Not that I know off. Just a sec.
[Girl from Ipenema]
Not stuck in the mail box I never check. Bag of buttons from Nancy
was, though.
--
Julie Stampnitzky
> "Candy" is not a count noun, it's a mass noun, at least as I understood
> it.
>
> *A candy
>
> Some candy.
>
> *Three candies.
>
> Three portions of candy.
>
> Amerenglish might have weirded this up, though.
In the American English I know, "candy" is a mass noun, but "a candy"
refers to a single piece of candy, generally a bite-sized piece such as a
single sucking candy. (Likewise three candies and so on.) So a Mars Bar is
candy, but not "a candy."
(My mouth is watering... don't you love these rasseff food threads? <g>)
--
Julie Stampnitzky |"I hope you can imagine my furious joy,
Rehovot, Israel |scribbling away in the lamplight, sometimes
http://www.yucs.org/~jules |surprising myself with what I think, and how I
http://neskaya.darkover.cx |choose to express it." (_Freedom & Necessity_)
Julie Stampnitzky
> In article <52fb48...@torch.brokersys.com>, Jonathan Guthrie
> <jgut...@brokersys.com> writes
> >
> >You know, my father used to design plants to make carbon black.
So your father was a botanist?
> The things you learn on RASFF. I always thought carbon was naturally
> black I never realised it had to be made that colour. Which begs the
> question what is carbons natural colour?
Octarine.
This is, however, a closely-guarded secret, which is why we go to the
trouble of disguising the color.
Laurel Krahn
> ave...@cix.co.uk (Avedon Carol) wrote in
> <jm2k6sonunttmtsbb...@4ax.com>:
>> (Mind
>> you, I'm all for auctioning PG Tips off - superficially, it's just
>> ordinary breakfast tea like you can get all over America, but it's
>> unquestionably less bitter and has a nicer flavor than your standard
>> Tetley's or McCormack or whatever people grew up on in the US.)
>
>
> Indeed it does. I'm drinking a cup of it right now. Say, isn't this
> standard rasff conversation number 437.6?
Yes, I believe it is.
It's been many months since I read rasff and it's still so familiar. In a
good way, for the most part.
(And the subject lines still mean nothing, absolutely nothing, unless they
have a name in them, but I lurk on SMOFS and I'm not gonna talk about that,
nosir).
--
Laurel Krahn (lau...@windowseat.org) http://www.windowseat.org/
Laurel Krahn
> In article <MPG.12d3fb516...@news.earthlink.net>,
> uaob...@earthlink.net (Ulrika O'Brien) wrote:
>
>> One of the things you don't get over here, though, are the satiny-
>> looking hard candies that have softer centers, in flavors like
>> praline and hazelnut.
>
> I don't recall them in those precise flavors, but I distinctly remember
> having candies just like the ones you describe which were bought in
> American shops when I was a child. The first time I had them, I found
> them odd, but I grew to like them. Or are you strictly referring to the
> flavor types? I know that many of the candies I've eaten which are
> wrapped with strawberry-patterned wrappers are satiny outside and
> soft-centered within.
Yup, I see the berry flavored candies like these all over the place,
especially during ye olde "holiday season" in the bags of mixed hard
candies. Used to be almost traditional in my family to visit the Shopko in
Mitchell, South Dakota on the day after Christmas to buy a few bags of the
holiday mix steeply discounted. And to look at all the other marked down
holiday merch, too.
The strawberry ones seem to be around, at least in the Midwest, now year
round.
Once in a while I've noticed some candies like these that weren't fruit
flavored or at least seemed "different" to a Minnesotan like me. Depends on
the mix you pick up.
FWIW,
Bernard Peek
>On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, Jo Walton wrote:
>
>> In article <84af1v$c...@netaxs.com>
>> na...@unix3.netaxs.com "Nancy Lebovitz" writes:
>>
>> > Knowing that there's a candy(?) called humbug is the hard part. What's
>> > a boiled sweet?
>>
>> Um. A _boiled sweet_. Like a humbug. Or a glacier mint. Or a losin
>> dant. Or a licorice-and-blackcurrant. Or sherbet lemons. Or plain
>> ordinary boiled sweets in fruit flavours.
>
>sucking candies don't come in the same exotic flavors as British boiled
>sweets. The basic types are: fruit-flavored (the "flavors" are red,
>orange, yellow, and green); mint flavored (these are usually red-and-white
>striped, sometimes turquoise); and butterscotch.
Red and white striped in the UK almost always means clove, not
peppermint. Peppermint might be black & white, light & dark brown, blue,
green or white.
There's a popular mixture called winter mixture that usually includes a
selection of mint, clove, aniseed and wintergreen "sucking candies".
All, in theory, medicinal.
--
Bernard Peek
b...@shrdlu.com
b...@shrdlu.co.uk
Rachael Lininger
Ulrika O'Brien <uaob...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>On 29 Dec 1999 14:15:17 -0600 Rachael Lininger,
><lini...@fozzie.chem.wisc.edu>, explained :
>> In article <84dn7h$mij$1...@cedar.liii.com>,
>> Dave Weingart <phyd...@liii.com> wrote:
>> >One day in Teletubbyland, lini...@chem.wisc.edu said:
>> >>I am told they can be found at Hungarian markets.
>> >
>> >Seems an awfully long way to go just for bitter almonds. Unless
>> >Ulrika is planning on being in Hungary anyway.
>>
>> Marzipan sounds like a great reason to go.
>
>I can certainly get marzipan right here in California.
Um, for that much, I'll make you marzipan. Lots o' marzipan. I know a
store that I bet has bitter almonds, too..
It's one of my childhood addictions; it feels vaguely shameful to crave
something _that_ sweet. But I adore it. The best-ever birthday cake I've
ever seen was my sister's, where my mom frosted a very chocolate cake to
look like a zoo and then stuck marzipan animals all over it. The tiger was
particularly impressive. (My mom made wedding cakes professionally, and so
we had some pretty cool birthday cakes. Lousy birthdays, but enviable
cakes.)
>> Do you really need bitter almonds, though? My recipe doesn't mention
>> them. What is the proportion of bitter almonds to cheap almonds, or should
>> they all be bitter? What do they taste like?
>
>Bitter almonds aren't mandatory. I have four recipes for marzipan
>or almond paste and only one of them calls for bitter almonds.
>But I prefer the recipe with, because the resulting almond paste
>is less bland, more properly almond-y in flavor. The proportion
>is roughly six bitter almonds per cup of sweet almonds. It
>doesn't take a lot.
Ooh.
>On the other hand, I just remembered I have a little green
>glass vial of Ekstroms essence of bitter almond among my
>spice racks, from my last trip home, so I guess I just need
>to get myself over to Sur La Table and pick up a nut grinder.
>(I actually have one around here somewhere, but it's busy
> demonstrating its vitality just now...)
Nut grinders do seem oddly animated, don't they? My mom's ran away from
what we thought must be a wonderfully satisfactory life grinding walnuts
for baklava, with many vacations in scenic Under-Cabinet Land. We never
found it again. I fear it fell in with bad company, like that unkempt
garlic press from the Stuff Drawer, and entered a life of desperation and
crime.
Cally Soukup
> In article <52fb48...@torch.brokersys.com>, Jonathan Guthrie
> <jgut...@brokersys.com> writes
>>You know, my father used to design plants to make carbon black.
> The things you learn on RASFF. I always thought carbon was naturally
> black I never realised it had to be made that colour. Which begs the
> question what is carbons natural colour?
Way back when, probably in the 1930s or 1940s, my grandfather owned a
hardware store next to a paint store owned by a good friend of his.
Mr. Carlson, the paint store owner, was fond of sending new clerks
over to my grandfather's store in search of such items as "yellow
carbon black". One day, my grandfather mixed up a packet and sent it
back with the new clerk. He'd mixed carbon black with a generous
dollop of sulfer. Old Mr. Carlson told me that it took days to get
the sulfer smell out of the back room.
> Sorry.
> --
> How does a rocket/jet engine work?
> "It's not that hard.
> Stuff goes in, stuff happens, stuff goes out faster than it came in."
> - Ian Stirling
> aRJay
--
"I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend
to the death your right to say it." -- Beatrice Hall
Cally Soukup sou...@pobox.com
Ulrika O'Brien
<lini...@fozzie.chem.wisc.edu>, explained :
> In article <84dn7h$mij$1...@cedar.liii.com>,
> Dave Weingart <phyd...@liii.com> wrote:
> >One day in Teletubbyland, lini...@chem.wisc.edu said:
> >>I am told they can be found at Hungarian markets.
> >
> >Seems an awfully long way to go just for bitter almonds. Unless
> >Ulrika is planning on being in Hungary anyway.
>
> Marzipan sounds like a great reason to go.
Sure, but especially if I'm spending hundreds of dollars
I can certainly get marzipan right here in California.
> Do you really need bitter almonds, though? My recipe doesn't mention
> them. What is the proportion of bitter almonds to cheap almonds, or should
> they all be bitter? What do they taste like?
Bitter almonds aren't mandatory. I have four recipes for marzipan
or almond paste and only one of them calls for bitter almonds.
But I prefer the recipe with, because the resulting almond paste
is less bland, more properly almond-y in flavor. The proportion
is roughly six bitter almonds per cup of sweet almonds. It
doesn't take a lot.
On the other hand, I just remembered I have a little green
glass vial of Ekstroms essence of bitter almond among my
spice racks, from my last trip home, so I guess I just need
to get myself over to Sur La Table and pick up a nut grinder.
(I actually have one around here somewhere, but it's busy
demonstrating its vitality just now...)
--
Andrew Plotkin
> Buttered Popcorn Jelly Bellies.
>
> Possibly the most gruesome candy I have ever eaten in my life
I must agree.
Or almost. There was some strange tiny little black candy -- which I
can remember nothing about, not even the origin, although it may have been
British. It tasted like a combination of liquorice and cigar ash.
> although the
> rum flavored life-savers came close.
Never tried those.
> (*I* was smart... I avoided the jalapeno Jelly Bellies as if they were
> laden with the black plague and flesh-eating E.Coli as well... what a
> hideous concept).
See, I can imagine those being good, beacuse I've had sweet jalapeno jelly
which was really tasty.
--Z
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
Bernard Peek
O'Brien <uaob...@earthlink.net> writes
>I must say that licorice-and-blackcurrant as a combination sounds
>sort of intriguing. Haven't seen those over here.
I saw them in a branch of IKEA yesterday.
Alan Woodford
wrote:
>In article <84d68o$f...@netaxs.com>, na...@unix3.netaxs.com (Nancy
>Lebovitz) wrote:
>
>> They also did rum-flavored life-savers, a candy so foul-tasting
>> that when I was given one I thought it was a practical joke.
>
>I've never had those (unless you mean butter rum, which I thought were
>fine), but I had a similar reaction to jalapeno Jelly Bellies.
>
Jalapeno Jelly Babies.
Bite their heads off, and they bite back.
I'd happily try them, if i saw them.
Alan "insert joke here" Woodford
Men in Frocks, protecting the Earth with mystical flummery!
Hal O'Brien
> It's been many months since I read rasff and it's still so familiar. In a
> good way, for the most part.
As someone who also mostly lurks here and only posts infrequently
(well... infrequently compared to most of dese guys), I'd like to say
hello and welcome back, Laurel.
We met briefly at Minicon. Not sure if you'd remember. But fond
"wishes" anyway.
-- Hal
Doug Wickstrom
(Rachael Lininger) excited the ether to say:
>Nut grinders do seem oddly animated, don't they? My mom's ran away from
>what we thought must be a wonderfully satisfactory life grinding walnuts
>for baklava, with many vacations in scenic Under-Cabinet Land. We never
>found it again. I fear it fell in with bad company, like that unkempt
>garlic press from the Stuff Drawer, and entered a life of desperation and
>crime.
I am now on my third nut grinder. I wish I could tell fanciful
stories about what happened to the first two, but the truth is
they were thrown away by She Who Cannot Cook. Well, _She_ didn't
ever use them, so they weren't good for anything, right?
Lots of things around here disappear the same way.
--
Doug Wickstrom
"Honto no ii katana wa saya ni haiteiru." --Tsubaki Sanjuro
David Goldfarb
Ulrika O'Brien <uaob...@earthlink.net> wrote:
)On the other hand, I just remembered I have a little green
)glass vial of Ekstroms essence of bitter almond among my
)spice racks
My family's favorite brownie recipe (Palm Beach Brownies in
_Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts_, if anyone's
interested) involves a teaspoon of almond extract.
One time my sibs and I made them, and instead of the almond
extract we thought we were using, we had essence of almond oil.
Before that I wouldn't have thought a teaspoon of *anything* could
overpower half a pound of chocolate -- not to mention the various
other ingredients.
We had to discard the batch as inedible.
--
David Goldfarb <*>|"Don't even ask about the oranges,
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu |the baking sheets, and the whorehouse in China."
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu |
aste...@slip.net | -- Loren MacGregor
Julie Stampnitzky
> P Nielsen Hayden at p...@panix.com wrote on 12/29/99 9:00 AM:
>
> > Indeed it does. I'm drinking a cup of it right now. Say, isn't this
> > standard rasff conversation number 437.6?
>
> Yes, I believe it is.
>
> It's been many months since I read rasff and it's still so familiar. In a
> good way, for the most part.
"Sjoberg's Law of Advanced Usenet Filtering"
"If you read a newsgroup for a week and then never read it again,
the result will be lossy but extremely efficient compression of
information."
(http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-mylaws.html)
Julie Stampnitzky
> Red and white striped in the UK almost always means clove, not
> peppermint.
*complete bogglement*
So, does that hold true for candycane-type things as well?
(Clove? I don't think I've ever seen any clove-flavored candy in the US...
cinnamon, certainly.)
Bernard Peek
<erky...@eblong.com> writes
>Scott Taylor <izzy...@faerealm.com> wrote:
>> Buttered Popcorn Jelly Bellies.
>>
>> Possibly the most gruesome candy I have ever eaten in my life
>
>I must agree.
As must I.
>
>Or almost. There was some strange tiny little black candy -- which I
>can remember nothing about, not even the origin, although it may have been
>British. It tasted like a combination of liquorice and cigar ash.
Ahhh. You mean Imps.
I remembered them from when I was a kid. I hadn't seen them for years,
then someone I work with offered them around after a meal. He too
remembered them from the 50s, but had rediscovered them in Holland.
I know that they are still being made in the UK and I recently found a
French brand that seems similar. I haven't tried them but my boss says
they're revolting. (I had a small tin of them on my desk, on one of his
foraging expeditions through my office he found them, peeled back the
seal, took one and resealed the tin.)
Dave Weingart
>(Clove? I don't think I've ever seen any clove-flavored candy in the US...
>cinnamon, certainly.)
There's a clove-flavored chewing gum out there. It's not QUITE as
bad as the buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies.
Rachael Lininger
Doug Wickstrom <nims...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>I am now on my third nut grinder. I wish I could tell fanciful
>stories about what happened to the first two, but the truth is
>they were thrown away by She Who Cannot Cook. Well, _She_ didn't
>ever use them, so they weren't good for anything, right?
>
>Lots of things around here disappear the same way.
Ick! I suppose putting little tags saying "Doug's Stuff" on things doesn't
help?
That's just ick. If Chinook started throwing out my things, I would take
her to the Road Kill Cafe for the bring-your-own entree special. Lucky for
her, Chinook can't get anything into the trash other than herself.
Nancy Lebovitz
Julie Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
>On Wed, 29 Dec 1999, Bernard Peek wrote:
>
>> Red and white striped in the UK almost always means clove, not
>> peppermint.
>
>*complete bogglement*
>So, does that hold true for candycane-type things as well?
I'm at least as boggled. Does red = clove imply that clove candies are
extremely common?
I'm beginning to think that sf authors are falling down on the job--
it's taken remarkably little time or distance (by sf standards) for
the US and the UK to diverge in all sorts of details.
>
>(Clove? I don't think I've ever seen any clove-flavored candy in the US...
>cinnamon, certainly.)
--
Nancy Lebovitz na...@netaxs.com
October '99 calligraphic button catalogue available by email!
Nancy Lebovitz
Julie Stampnitzky <ju...@yucs.org> wrote:
>On Wed, 29 Dec 1999, Jason Stokes wrote:
>
>> "Candy" is not a count noun, it's a mass noun, at least as I understood
>> it.
>>
>> *A candy
>>
>> Some candy.
>>
>> *Three candies.
>>
>> Three portions of candy.
>>
>> Amerenglish might have weirded this up, though.
>
>In the American English I know, "candy" is a mass noun, but "a candy"
>refers to a single piece of candy, generally a bite-sized piece such as a
>single sucking candy. (Likewise three candies and so on.) So a Mars Bar is
>candy, but not "a candy."
>
>(My mouth is watering... don't you love these rasseff food threads? <g>)
>
of them "a candy", but after enough discussion of usage, I begin to feel
unsure about what sounds right.
Scott Taylor
<iqlAqeA1zxa4Ew$o...@shrdlu.com>...
> In article <84e9lh$a0k$2...@nntp8.atl.mindspring.net>, Andrew Plotkin
> <erky...@eblong.com> writes
> >Scott Taylor <izzy...@faerealm.com> wrote:
> >> Buttered Popcorn Jelly Bellies.
> >> Possibly the most gruesome candy I have ever eaten in my life
> >I must agree.
> As must I.
> >Or almost. There was some strange tiny little black candy -- which I
> >can remember nothing about, not even the origin, although it may have
been
> >British. It tasted like a combination of liquorice and cigar ash.
> Ahhh. You mean Imps.
That seems a fitting name. (never had them, but given the description of
the flavor).
> I remembered them from when I was a kid. I hadn't seen them for years,
> then someone I work with offered them around after a meal. He too
> remembered them from the 50s, but had rediscovered them in Holland.
> I know that they are still being made in the UK and I recently found a
> French brand that seems similar. I haven't tried them but my boss says
> they're revolting. (I had a small tin of them on my desk, on one of his
> foraging expeditions through my office he found them, peeled back the
> seal, took one and resealed the tin.)
Serves him right. Steals a candy, finds out it's nasty as hell... :-)
I suspect some of these candies are made on the same sort of basis as some
of the more hideously strong hot sauces (don't get me wrong; I like hot
sauces, and I'm the only person I know who eats Wasabi raw off of the
plate. But when something's primary ingredient is "raw, distilled
Scovilles", you aren't using it because of the flavor... :-). That is, it's
a proof of manly masochism and machismo; "look how brutal I am... I
actually *like* these really nasty little candies!" sort of thing.
Either that, or there really is such a thing as (ObSF) Lin Carter's
Anti-Life critters, which subsisted on ground glass and poisons and the
like. :-)