Black-and-White, Half-Moon, Harlequin

[Jonathan Lighter]

NYC police cars these days are sky-blue and white. In the forties and fifties (and perhaps from the beginning)  they were dark green, black, and white.  So far as I know, they were never referred to as "black and whites."

JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: Black-and-White, Half-Moon, Harlequin
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At 11:41 AM -0700 9/4/04, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>I can remember eating these cookies in NYC in the mid-'50s. They
>were called "black-and-whites" then. Another kind of
>"black-and-white" was a chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream.
>
>JL

and ideally one was not trying to eat the former or drink the latter
while sitting cuffed in the back of the third kind of
"black-and-white".

Larry

>Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Bapopik at AOL.COM
>Subject: Black-and-White, Half-Moon, Harlequin
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>BLACK-AND-WHITE--not in DARE
>HALF-MOON--not in DARE
>HARLEQUIN--not in DARE
>
>I'm adding the "black-and-white" to my web site.
>
>DARE doesn't pay me this huge salary for nothing.
>
>
>(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
>Anne's Reader Exchange
>Paul H., Wheaton.. The Washington Post (1974-Current file). Washington, D.C.:
>Nov 29, 1979. p. E23 (1 page)
>
>'Look to the Cookie': An Ode in Black and White
>By WILLIAM GRIMES. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: May
>13, 1998. p. F1 (2 pages)
>First page:
>The black-and-white has been around forever. Herb Glaser, the baker at Glaser
>Bake Shop on First Avenue near 87th Street, said that as far as he knew,
>Glaser's has been making them ever since it opened 96 years ago. "When I was
>growing up, I'd have two of them for dessert every day," Mr Glaser
>said. "I was a
>fat kid."
>
>Technically, the black-and-white is not a cookie but a drop cake. The batter
>resembles the batter for a cupcake, with a little extra flour so that the
>dough does not run all over the place when it is dropped, dollop by
>dollop, on the
>baking cheet. "The trick is to add enough flour so the batter holds a shape,
>but not so much that the cookie becomes dry, which is a common problem with
>the black-and-white," Mr. Glaser said. Once baked, it is iced with
>chocolate and
>vanilla fondant frosting.
>
>
>What's Black and White And New York as Seinfeld?
>Florence Fabricant. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Aug
>4, 1999. p. F2 (1 page)
>
>
>Smart Cookies; Why black-and-whites have assumed deep cultural significance.
>Mollv O'Neill. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Jan 28,
>2001. p. SM39 (12 pages)
>Pg. 39:The black-and-white, that frumpy and oversize mainstay of New York
>City bakeries and delis, has not endured by dint of its taste. Unlike other
>edible icons, like New York cheesecake or bagels, there is no such thing as a
>delicious black-and-white cookied. They are either edible or
>inedible. Fresh-baked
>and home-baked are the best.
>
>Pg. 50:Outside New York, cookies with black-and-white icing are cookies with
>black-and0white icing. In Boston, where they are called half-moons, and in the
>Midwest, where they are known as harlequins, they are considered ordinary and
>have been around, say most bakers, "forever."
>
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