cabinet~milk shake

[Jeffrey William McKeough]

Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>
>Here's a claim from 1998 which would seem to refer to ca. 1940, I think:
>it's retrospective, though.
>
>http://www.mpgnews.com/reporters/features/spot980430.html
>
><<Richard Clark, 70, of Plympton also said his favorite ice cream is
>coffee. ... Clark said as a kid in Rhode Island, he used to have coffee
>"cabinets" all the time. He said a coffe [sic] cabinet is a milk shake with
>ice cream.>>
>
>"Coffee cabinet" = "coffee milk-shake" seems to be very frequently
>mentioned ...

Actually, it was "coffee cabinet" = "coffee milkshake with ice
cream".  I think Rhode Island milkshakes are like Massachusetts
milkshakes, which are milk with flavoring.  Add ice cream here and you
get a frappe, add it there and you get a cabinet.

-Jeffrey, who will admit to using "shake" and "frappe"
 interchangeably, and who probably uses "shake" more often nowadays

--
Jeffrey William McKeough
jwm at spdcc.com (or spdcc.net)