LL-L "Delectables" 2005.08.05 (02) [E]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica"

Hi Ron,

You wrote:

> Butter tended to be a symbol or metaphor for material wealth or at
> least a comfortable life.  Apparently only well-off folks could afford
> butter or could afford it everyday.  I suppose poorer folks had
> (oftentimes rancid) lard instead, or nothing at all.

Quite so. Even lard or any other fat substance wasn't always available.
This mentality is still reflected in general Brabantish expressions like:
" 't És ni vajt zö" or " 't És ginne vajtn", which are remarks, often
said of _anything_ having poor quality. More specifically, good meat was
supposed to contain a lot of  fat. "Fat" was synonymous with "rich",
"abundant", "luxurious".

> This idea of butter being special was still alive when I was a child
> (sometime in the Dark Ages of course).  Even after the so-called West
> German "economic miracle" had started, most people had margarine most
> of the time and butter only on special occasions, perhaps on Sundays.
> We referred to butter as "good butter" (Low Saxon _goude botter_,
> German _gute Butter_), and we usually meant "margarine" when we said
> only "butter."

I was kind of surprised to read this, because my parents make exactly
the same distinction: "boter" means margarine and "goei boter" is
ordinary butter. "Goei boter" is almost never eaten, only on special
festivities (weddings, "kermis" or "jààremèt", first/solemn Communion...).

> Oh, yes!  No matter what -- there's always a story or three ... (even
> without the help of Advocaat).

Speaking of Advocaat: My mom absolutely hates to drink/eat anything
containing alcohol (even in cakes)...except Advocaat ;-) .

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.08.05 (13) [E]

Ron wrote:
> Talking about "swozzled" ... A favorite story circulating in my family
goes
> back to the worst of bad times right after World War II, when almost
nothing
> was available and people were starving in Germany and elsewhere.  Not that
> that is funny, mind you.  However, funny things happen even at the worst
of
> times.

Rumour has it - I have heard this story more than once, on different
occasions, also by two of my zoology professors, and therefore tend to
believe it - that in Hamburg, after the war, American soldiers who craved a
stiff drink and were willing to pay for it in food and cigarettes, were sold
a "local specialty" called "Krötenwasser" (toad water). Somebody had emptied
all the jars from the collection of the university's zoological institute,
discarded the "chunks" (brains, snakes, centipedes, you name it), and sold
the alcohol on the black market.

Ever since I heard this tale, I have been idly wondering whether, after this
great success, they went on to do the same in the medical faculty... let's
simply hope that everything there was preserved in formaldehyde, not
ethanol.

I don't know, should this really still go under "Delectables"?

Gabriele Kahn

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From: Ben J. Bloomgren <godsquad at cox.net>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.08.05 (01) [E]

"Well, the basic ingredients are fresh egg yolks, Everclear..."

Good mother! How much of that stuff do you drink? How long have you
Lowlanders drunk that brew?
Ben
No, I'm not a teatotaler.

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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Delectables" [E]

> From: Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong <Dutchmatters at comcast.net>
> Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.08.05 (01) [E]
>
> Advokaat

Yes, my grandmother used to make advokaat, although her unwritten recipe, 
along with all her other recipes for incredible wines made out of all sorts 
of vegetable matter, died with her.

Advokaat is very popular in Scotland, especially at the New Year.

Your ancestor's recipe doesn't give quantities. What should the consistency 
be? The shop-bought stuff has the consistency of double cream, roughly, but 
my brother tells me that the Dutch traditionally sup advokaat with a spoon. 
This and the recipe, with the beaten egg whites, suggest that a thicker 
consistency might be more traditional - does anyone know?

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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