"mashmallow", the confection

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:36 PM +0000 11/5/10, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>Are we talking about the hemispherical marshmallow (sometimes
>fluted) on a round wafer, the whole thing enwrapped in chocolate
>icing?

Maybe so, for the generic item and the superordinate category.  But
(if I may be permitted some literal commercial puffery of my own)
only Mallomars are Mallomars.

LH

>The only term that I have known for those as "eagle turds."
>(Similar only in shape to the pink things sprinkled with coconut.)
>
>--Charlie
>
>________________________________________
>From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
>Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 11:40 AM
>
>>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
>
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