shortcake

[Wilson Gray]

Unfortunately, that is "strawberry shortcake" as I know it. I've never
had shortcake, shortbread, or shortening bread, only so-called
"strawberry shortcake" as described by Charlie.

-Wilson

On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 2:03 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      shortcake
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Recently my wife and I were served what was announced as "strawberry shortcake." It arrived in the form of a shallow cup molded from a sponge-cakey substance (a little like the outside of a Twinkie), with a few berries in the declivity on top and a quantity of whipped cream (probaly fake). I muttered that the pastry was not shortcake--which in my gustatory lexicon should resemble a biscuit with a little sugar added to the dough; after baking, it would be served whole or halved, with berries spooned over it (whipped cream optional).
>
> My wife, from Chicago, opined (folk etymologically) that the cakey pastry in front of us was authentic shortcake--so called because it is less tall than sheetcake or tubecake! Evidently, those "short" cakes of small diameter can be storeboughten, in packaages (my wife maintains) that are labeled "shortcake."
>
> Is there a regional distinction here, or what? Or have gullible consumers simply been lied to?
>
> --Charlie
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