Re: Barry Popik's food-terminology postings

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I pretty much agree with Gerald Cohen here. I have had my disagreements with
some of Popik's commentary in the past, and I am personally not very
interested in reading about whether HEAD CHEESE was first sighted (sic) in
1844 or 1822. And I am even less interested in much of Popik's chit-chat
about his travels, his complaints about newspaper editors who ignore his
pronouncements and treat him like a green-ink letter-writer.

But many other people on the list enjoy it all, apparently, and who am I to
stand in their way? So I simply use the delete button.

Moreover -- and this is really important to me -- Barry's endless-seeming
antedatings are archived in the ADS-L archives. Lots of people -- including
me -- make use of this stuff and find it important and maybe even
occasionally crucial for various reasons. So I am grateful to Barry for all
that he does, and if the way that he goes about it is sometimes an
incovenience to my mailbox, I'm willing to put up with it (a). because others
like the way he goes about it and (b). he is doing important work.


In a message dated 5/7/03 9:16:36 PM, gcohen at UMR.EDU writes:


> I have a few thoughts about Barry's food-terminology postings:
>
> 1) His antedatings are no doubt of considerable interest to lexicographers.
>
> 2) Some of his material is interesting enough to be developed into
> articles.
> My file cards show over 80 articles authored by Barry for my Comments
> on Etymology, and food items are well represented: "ice-cream
> sundae," "Tom Collins," "chicken a la king," "Bloody Mary," "crepes
> suzette," "thousand island dressing," "hush puppies," "Margarita,"
> "Moscow mule," "Daiquiri," "Bacardi," "Sloppy Joe's, "coffee break,"
> "cappucino," "chiffon pie," "chiffon cake," "Danish pastry,"
> "Margherita pizza,", "hot dog," "Material for the study of hashhouse
> lingo," "free lunch." --- And this is just a small portion of his
> material waiting to be developed.
>
> 3) Although Barry is some 20 years my junior, I have learned an
> enormous amount just by seeing where all his interests and activities
> lead. And one of my main tasks as a scholar is to see that as much of
> his raw material as possible is developed into scholarly publications.
>
> 4) Rather than wondering if Barry's food-terminology messages are
> appropriate for ads-l, the American Dialect Society should be
> considering ways to honor him for his indefatigable contributions to
> word-studies. His accomplishments have been extraordinary.
>
> Gerald Cohen
> University of Missouri-Rolla
>
>
> P.S. Of course, not everyone on the list is interested in his
> postings on food terminology. But the Delete button is so easy to use
> that no one is required to even open the messages.
>
>