"like pickles and ice cream"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Garson's finds are a valuable background to this story. Still, "memic"
"pickles and ice cream" doesn't appear till the '50s. After that,
increasingly, the phrase appears to be just one of those automatic
connections that the average person assumes to be timeless.

Like so many other linguistic phenomena, there seems to be no rational
explanation for this fact.

I won't quibble with Victor's distinction between "proverbial" and
"paradoxical," but I think that the "paradoxical" must be well on its way to
becoming proverbial as well.

JL
On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 3:35 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "like pickles and ice cream"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This is the most inclusive description, but, I think, it also misses a
> subtle point. These proverbial cravings appear to be cultural--e.g.,
> "pickles and ice cream" for Americans, lemons and generally sour
> things for Russians, spicy food for many Middle-Easterners. In some
> cases, just the mere craving is an indication of pregnancy in folk
> psychology. I wonder what the pregnant Tutsi and Maori crave. And I am
> sure the lore on craving is quite extensive in China, although it may
> be regional.
>
> VS-)
>
> On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 2:49 PM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
> >
> > 1914, Better Babies and their Care by Anna Steese Richardson
> >
> > The woman who feels an inordinate craving for certain articles of
> > diet, such as pickles, lemons, candy, etc., should exercise judgment
> > and self control. Like any other habit, extremes in diet will grow
> > upon a woman until they really endanger her health. Their indulgence
> > will in no way lighten the burdens of pregnancy. Considerable acid is
> > supplied in salads and fruits; and a limited amount of sweet pickle,
> > catsups and other modern condiments may be taken with meals.
> >
> > Custards, gelatins, sponge cake, light desserts made with fruit, and
> > ice-cream are desirable sweets.
> >
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=jY0-AAAAIAAJ&q=craving#v=snippet&
>
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