missing the concept

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sat, Jun 04, 2011 at 09:21:10PM -0400, victor steinbok wrote:
> The Boston Globe routinely has slide shows of food-related items. Most of
> them are of the type of Best X in Boston, but there are some variations. The
> latest one is Oddest Fast Foods. The first entry in the genre is Dunkin'
> Frozen Hot Chocolate.
>
> http://www.boston.com/business/gallery/quirkyfastfooditems?pg=2
> >
> > Thanks to the magic of slang, we know that something can be both "bad" and
> > "good." But can something be both cold and hot?Thanks to the magic of
> > Dunkin' Donuts, it can.
>
>
>
> Personally, I actually have no problem with Frozen Hot Chocolate. It does
> not even say Cold Hot Chocolate, which is what the Globe comment implies. It
> might have been more interesting if they came up with Cool Hot Chocolate,
> because, at least, that would be a bit of a pun. In any case, YMMV.

The New York restaurant Serendipity is known for its "Frrrozen Hot
Chocolate," and there are all sorts of legends surrounding it--Jackie
Onassis tried to buy the recipe for a party, but instead the owner came
and made it himself, etc. Barry Popik has cites back to 1965 here:

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/frrrozen_hot_chocolate/

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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