FEEDBACK A while back you posted an article in which people defined happiness. One person stated it was egg salad with the perfect proportions of egg, mayo, and salt. Shortly after your post appeared I ran across the article attached below. An all-yolk mayo is very intriguing and I intend on tracking it down. Also, as good as egg, mayo & salt can be, I like to add some minced onion and celery, as well as a dash of mustard. And then there is the Metaphysical Salad, which is egg salad with chicken, or chicken salad with grated hard-boiled egg. Enjoy a delicious sandwich while contemplating whether the chicken or the egg has primacy. The ingredient that will change your egg salad forever: If you want to upgrade your egg salad while also maintaining the integrity of the classic recipe, switching up just one ingredient will change everything. https://www.tastingtable.com/702619/the-ingredient-that-will-change-your-egg-salad-forever Thank you, Muse reader!
Euchre is one of the world’s oldest card games, dating back to the 18th century. It’s believed to have originated in Alstasia, a former area north of the River Thames in London. Alstasia was known as a sanctuary back then; a place where criminals gathered to escape the reach of the law. Presumably, British rogues wiled away the hours playing Juckerspiel; the name by which it was known prior to Euchre. A trick-catching card game, Euchre is ancestrally derived from an even older game by the name of Ombre. That version originated in Spain as a 3-player game in the late 16th century. It swept Europe in the 17th century, taking on new names along the way. The term Bower identifies the highest ranking cards in a hand of Euchre. The word “Bower” comes from the German word, “Bauer”. Literally translated, it means “Farmer”, but it also means “Jack”. In fact, the Alstasian name “Juckerspiel” says it all. In German, “Jucker” means “Jack”, and “spiel” means “game. Thus Euchre is quite simply the Jack Game. The term Jucker is also believed by many historians to have influenced decks of playing cards more than any other game in history. Most researchers agree that Juckerspiel (Euchre) made its way into North America by way 18th century immigration. It spread quickly from German settlers in Pennsylvania, and was also brought over by British settlers; especially those from Cornwall, where the games is immensely popular to this day. By its original name, Juckerspiel, is believed to be the cause of North American games manufacturers adding the first “Joker” to decks of playing cards. Jucker and Joker are incredibly similar, and in the US version of the game, the Joker is the “best bower”. Or, as Encyclopedia Britannica so eloquently defines it, “a glorified jack”. https://debitcardcasino.ca/games/2018/04/13/euchre-history/
The expression wet your whistle is just a joking reference to one’s mouth or throat and to the fact that one can’t easily whistle when one’s mouth is dry. It’s a very ancient expression: its first recorded appearance is in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales at the end of the fourteenth century, and it must surely be even older. You can sometimes find it as whet one’s whistle, through confusion with whet one’s appetite and similar words in whet, literally meaning to sharpen. It would seem that those who first wrote it that way, more than 300 years ago, were as unsure of the real source of the expression as many of us are today. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-wet1.htm
Parklets are public seating platforms that convert curbside parking spaces into community spaces. Also known as street seats or curbside seating, parklets are the product of a partnership between the city and local businesses, residents, or neighborhood associations. https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/interim-design-strategies/parklets/
zythology (uncountable) noun The study of beer and beer-brewing. [from 21st c.] quotations ▼ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zythology#English
“Doll” and “Dolly,” in addition to being “pet” names for women, soon came to be applied as generic terms to pet animals, toy “dolls,” and lower-class women, including servants and prostitutes. “Dolly” was also used as a name for various small mechanical devices, often because the contraption was thought to resemble a child’s doll in some way. Thus a wooden device used in the 18th century to agitate clothes in a washtub was called a “dolly” because the user gripped it by two “arms” and twisted it, making the gizmo’s two “legs” churn the water in the tub. “Dolly” wasn’t used to mean a small wheeled platform until around 1910 (not the 16th century), and by then the term “dolly” had largely lost the original “looks kinda like a person” sense. It is possible, of course, that someone saw a resemblance between a primitive wheeled “dolly” and human arms and legs, but doubtful. It’s more likely that “dolly” was used because of such carts’ small size when compared to larger trucks, wagons and similar conveyances. It’s also possible that “dolly” in the wheeled sense harks back to “dolly” as a generic term for a lower-class woman or girl, especially a servant. Thus a “dolly” would be so-called because it “helps” or “serves” in the task of moving heavy objects. If that “servant” connection is true, it would make “dolly” in this sense a cousin of the “lazy susan,” the revolving tray sometimes placed on dining tables to hold condiments or side dishes. This device had been called a “dumb-waiter” in Britain since the 18th century, but when it was introduced to the US in the late 19th century it became known as a “lazy susan,” almost certainly because “Susan” was considered a common name for female servants. http://www.word-detective.com/2011/03/dolly/
Gibe, jibe and gybe—the word rhymes with vibe or bribe, and starts with the same soft “g” sound as giraffe or gyroscope. They’re homophones in that they are all pronounced exactly the same way. The definition of the word gibe, though, is decidedly less positive than that of jibe. A gibe (used as a noun) is an insult, a taunt or some other sort of mocking remark. By extension, “gibe” can also be used as a verb to mean basically the same thing. It’s when you sneer, mock, taunt or jeer at someone else. Michael Kwan https://btr.michaelkwan.com/2018/03/23/grammar-101-gibe-jibe-not/
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 2491
February 4, 2022
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