cinnamon

[Wilson Gray]

On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 8:04 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â cinnamon
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>
> The cinnamon article in the OED seems not only outdated but somewhat
> freewheeling.
>
> 1. a. The inner bark of an East Indian tree (see 2), dried in the sun, in
> rolls or =91quills=92, and used as a spice. It is of a characteristic yello=
> wish
> brown colour, brittle, fragrant, and aromatic, and acts as a carminative
> and restorative.
>
>
> I don't recall any other entry giving medical advice. Should we add that
> it's also considered a natural folk remedy for diabetes? Or just leave out
> that last bit?
>
> Â 2. The tree which yields this bark, *Cinnamomum zeylanicum*, family *
> Lauraceae*. Also applied to other trees, allied to, or in some way
> resembling the true cinnamon; *esp.* Â *bastard cinnamon* n. the cassia n.1,
> *C. Cassia*. Â *mountain cinnamon* n. *Cinnamodendron corticosum*. Â *wild
> cinnamon* n. *Canella alba* and *Myrcia acris*.*black cinnamon*: see the
> first element.
>
>
> If you pick up cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon from a supermarket, you
> are 100% guaranteed to get Cassia bark. Even shopping at specialty spice
> stores reveals mostly Cassia supplies. The "true cinnamon" is often
> especially labeled and is considered inferior for most uses (it is more
> fragrant, but lacks the concentrated taste of Cassia).
>
> Â 3. *attrib.* and as adj. Cinnamon-coloured.
>
>
> This is interesting. This is one place where I would certainly expect an
> "attrib." entry, but the one I found was not the one I anticipated.
> "Cinnamon candy" is rarely brown and more often red. In general, red
> coloring is associated with cinnamon in food, personal hygiene and cosmetic
> products, such as gum, toothpaste (label is often red or has red
> highlights), sweets (e.g., Atomic Fireballs), mouth wash, drinks (De
> Kuyper's Cinnamon Schnapps, Italian Liquore di Cannella or Liquore alla
> Cannella, although the latter two are more brown than orange--while Italian
> aperitifs based on bitter orange, somewhat resembling the American
> artificial cinnamon flavor, are always red). This association may be
> limited to the US. But despite association of cinnamon with the red color,
> a "cinnamon color" is not red--orange-brown, perhaps.
>
> But what about all those red-colored cinnamon-flavored items? Should that
> not fall under "attrib." category if they are labeled "cinnamon"? What
> about "cinnamon buns"? they don't appear to have any place in the OED
> taxonomy.
>
> And how is cinnamon 3. different from cinnamon 6.?
>
> Â 6. Yellowish brown, the colour characteristic of cinnamon quills.
>
>
> Â  Â VS-)
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

"Cinnamon" is used among black people to describe, purely
subjectively, a skin-tone and is also commonly used as a nom-de-nudite
by purveyors of entertainment in "gentlemen's clubs" and by
"porn-stars."

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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