"mashmallow", the confection

[Joel S. Berson]

At 11/5/2010 12:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Who ever said lexicographers can spell?

And (my research shows) in the early 19th century they couldn't tell
their camels from their dromedaries.  Both Nathan Bailey's Universal
Etymological English Dictionary and Johnson's Dictionary of the
English Language said there were three kinds of camels, one bunch,
two bunch, and the dromedary.  But Noah Webster's 1828 American
Dictionary of the English Language (its first edition) got it right:
his dromedary, "called also the Arabian camel", has one bunch, his
Bactrian camel has two.

Joel


>JL
>
>On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "mashmallow", the confection
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > >Apparently they only sell 'em now during the Thanksgiving-Christmas Axis
> > of
> > >Food Evil.
> > >
> > >So watch your store shelves.
> > >
> > >Chocolate Pinwheels are OK, but they don't fit as comfortably in the hand
> > >and they have a less chocolatey finish. The shape too is rather baroque
> > for
> > >my taste.
> > >
> > >A Canadian firm bakes a variant Mallowmar (I forget the name) which adds a
> > >layer of raspberry jam between the marshmallow and the cake.  Also OK, but
> > >not really a Mallowmar.
> > >
> > >JL
> >
> > And more crucially, not really a Mallomar! (Maybe the w-lessness was
> > to assure we'd pronounce it as in "callow" rather than "fellow"; like
> > everyone else, New Yorkers pronounce "marshmallow" itself with an /E/
> > as in "mellow".)
> >
> > But of course there's a wiki entry for the category, with
> > cross-confectionary typology.  I was delighted to read of one
> > counterpart that "The Tunnock's Teacake enjoys iconic status in
> > Scotland, evoking memories of childhood, or symbolizing "home" for
> > Scots around the world." On the other hand, it's sobering to see all
> > the "Negro (Negress) Kiss (Head)" versions.
> >
> > Mallomars ("produced seasonally at Nabisco", as Jon warns) are
> > themselves are described as follows:
> > "A graham cracker circle is covered with a puff of extruded
> > marshmallow, then enrobed in dark chocolate, which forms a hard
> > shell."
> >
> > Poetic, no?
> >
> > LH
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org