[Ads-l] pozzy (jam) in South Africa in 1900?
Peter Reitan
pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM
Mon Oct 3 16:19:47 UTC 2016
Stephen Goranson mentioned Tickler's plum and apple jam known as pozzy.
I ran across Tickler's plum and apple jams when writing about "How do you like them apples," and the frequently cited, possible connection between that idiom and "toffee apple mortars" in WWI. It turns out that there were several "apple"-related bomb, grenade and mortar terms used in WWI, including IEDs and improvised mortars made from Tickler's Apple Jam Pots (cans) and plum jam pots.
While the growing popularity of "how do you like them apples" during WWI could possibly have been influenced by the various "apple" bombs, I updated my post recently with a single, isolated example from twenty years earlier - 1895. The date appears to be correct.
"Bryan is the best cotton market in this section of the state and has received more cotton than any other town in this section. How do you like "them apples?""
The Eagle (Bryan, Texas), September 26, 1895, page 2.
http://esnpc.blogspot.com/2014/07/ieds-jam-and-trench-warfare-bombastic.html
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2016 6:48:38 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: pozzy (jam) in South Africa in 1900?
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster: Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
Subject: pozzy (jam) in South Africa in 1900?
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A site, "Great War Forum," gives a scan of a newspaper article "What's Poz=
zy?"--jam--said to be from 18 August 1900 Worcestershire Chronicle. I can't=
definitely confirm the date, but the content seems plausible: [Second Boer=
?] war in South Africa and [Field Marshall Paul ?] Methuen.
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/
Another site, "British Library, World War One, SlangTerms at the Front," of=
fers:
"The limited diet of the British soldier in the front line included Tickler=
's Plum and Apple Jam, known as 'pozzy' (possibly from a South African word=
for 'preserved food'),...."
https://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/slang-terms-at-the-front#sthash.4W=
Du5jVN.dpuf
Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
from a Sept. 29, 2016 post:
OED's word of the day yesterday had pozzy ("origin unknown") from Jan. 1915=
.
Here in a google books snippet scan that includes the date Nov. 13, 1914 an=
d p. no. 72, The Oxford Magazine (said to be vol. 33):
... those near him about some jam (' pozzy ') that had been served to them.=
He fell senseless, but recovered consciousness, smiled, and said, ' [snipp=
et scan starts here] It 's all right, boys ; pass the word along to Mr. S t=
hat I shan't want any "pozzy" to-night' That was all. "Mr. S____ , the near=
est officer, on getting the message, burst into tears, and all the men were=
quite downhearted.
https://books.google.com/books?id=3D0jLmAAAAMAAJ&q=3Dpass+the+pozzy&dq=3Dpa=
ss+the+pozzy&hl=3Den&sa=3DX&ved=3D0ahUKEwilk4LWwLTPAhWDNSYKHdTrAlEQ6AEIJDAB
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