Persistent, Niggling Questions

[Nate the Great]

I could look this up, but I might as well hassle you guys: Is it

Blue, blue-green, green-blue, green
Or
Blue, green-blue, blue-green, green?

How do you know if you're in love? Honestly, this one has been both Persisting and Niggling me for quite some time.

What does fruitcake really taste like? I've never had any, never intend to, but still...

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by catalina_marina

Only in English, dear. :P

You do all speak it anyway.

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

What does fruitcake really taste like? I've never had any, never intend to, but still...

Like brandy, if done properly.

[Nate the Great]

And what if it's NOT done properly?
Actually, I have no idea what brandy tastes like.

Don't most people just say "the Web" these days?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

And what if it's NOT done properly?

Hobo feet.



(Ha ha, I made you imagine what hobo feet taste like.)

[Nate the Great]

No, you made me question anew how you managed to get out of that straightjacket.

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by PointyHairedJedi

Hobo feet.



(Ha ha, I made you imagine what hobo feet taste like.)

[Nate the Great]

I hereby declare today to be Junk Food Day here in the PNQ thread!

I can understand how "pop" was applied to carbonated beverages, but what about "soda?"

Do they say "ketchup" or "catsup" in Canada?

Aren't there umpteen more efficient ways to get flavored sugar to your mouth than Pixie Stix?

What's the more common pronounciation: "car-mell" or "care-a-mel?"

Why do peanut butter and chocolate make such a great combination? WHY?

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

I can understand how "pop" was applied to carbonated beverages, but what about "soda?"

Soda water is the part which gives it the carbonation (contains sodium bicarbonate, or did in Britain.)

Do they say "ketchup" or "catsup" in Canada?

Both.

Aren't there umpteen more efficient ways to get flavored sugar to your mouth than Pixie Stix?

Define "umpteen".

What's the more common pronounciation: "car-mell" or "care-a-mel?"

Neither.

Why do peanut butter and chocolate make such a great combination? WHY?

They just do. Ask again, and we'll take yours away.

[Nate the Great]

Um, how can baking soda add fizz to water? Or are we assuming here that water back then was slightly acidic?

Umpteen is an unknown, theoretically large number. Eighteen, nineteen, ... umpteen.

So how do you say carmel?

[AKAArzosah]

Caramel? ... ... ... ... Nope, I give up. The Australian pronounciation just doesn't work in text. Seriously, I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure it out.

But the ketsup? Here in Australia we pronounce that 'tuh-ma-toe sorce'.

Pixie sticks - that's those foot long tubes of fizzy-ish powder right?

Peanut Butter and chocolate, god I wish they had Reeses Peanut Butter cups here... as it is I have to buy them online.

Whoops, I would ask some questions of my own but I gotta get off the net (stupid not-broadband, *mutter mutter*).

[Nate the Great]

But ketchup isn't just tomato sauce.

[AKAArzosah]

Is there really as many HotDog stands in the USA as the movies make out (seems like practically every street corner)?

What's your favourite chocolate/candy bar? (open to everyone, US or otherwise)

Are there really TV dinners in little trays with each food item separated?

Random question: How much do you get trading in bottles and cans in the US?

[AKAArzosah]

I always thought they were the same thing. It's 'the red sauce you put on Hot Dogs' often accompanied by mustard. Hey Wikipedia agrees with me!

Is ketchup chunky or smooth or what? I guess it just depends on your own definition.

[Tate]

Originally Posted by AKAArzosah

I always thought they were the same thing. It's 'the red sauce you put on Hot Dogs' often accompanied by mustard. Hey Wikipedia agrees with me!

True enough, but by my understanding, there are two ingrediants in ketchup that set it apart from other tomato sauces: corn syrup and vinegar. It's vinegar in particular that give ketchup its distinctive flavor.

What I want to know is why ketchup is so often referred to on labels as "tomato ketchup." Is there some sort of non-tomato ketchup I just don't know about?

Oh, and I'm not certain that I've ever seen a hot dog stand (except in movies), despite have lived in America for all my life. That's not to say that I've never had a hot dog before. But when I've had hot dogs, I've usually gotten them at a barberque or restraunt, not a stand-alone hot dog cart or stand. Then again, I've spent practically no time in big cities, like Chicago or New York, where I could more easily imagine such hot dog stands existing.

[Nate the Great]

Unless you're talking about one of our MANY county fairs, festivals, and so forth, no, we don't really have that many hot dog stands. However, at the Minneapolis State Fair we pride ourselves in having many MANY things on sticks, including hot dogs (with and without fried corn batter over it).

Ketchup is smooth. That's what makes it ketchup. If the tomato is unevenly coagulated that's called "you didn't shake the bottle before using it."

My favorite candy bar (if you mean out and out candy bar, not just any old candy that you can get in the grocery store checkout line), it's the Fast Break. I love those things.

If you mean any candy sold in roughly bar-shaped parcels NEXT to the proper candy bars, Starbursts. Yum.

Yes, we have TV dinners with each entree in a separate compartment within the same tray.

Can and bottle reimbursements depend on the state. Some states give nothing, others a nickel, others a dime.

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

But ketchup isn't just tomato sauce.

The ketchup (ketjap manis) which originally came to the attention of Europeans (brought back by the British and Dutch East India Companies in the 18th century) didn't have any tomatoes in it (tomatoes are native to the New World), and ketchup as we know it here and now most certainly is tomato sauce. (Have you ever made ketchup? It takes a lot of tomatoes to make it.)

Originally Posted by Tate

What I want to know is why ketchup is so often referred to on labels as "tomato ketchup." Is there some sort of non-tomato ketchup I just don't know about?

Many of them, in fact. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup



There aren't as many hot dog stands as there used to be, and even in the old days, I don't think even Brooklyn had one on every corner.

There really are TV dinners in compartmented trays, but there's a lot more variety than there used to be and some of them are really quite good.

How much you get trading in cans and bottles depends upon the size of the container and where you are, to some extent.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Here in Australia we pronounce that 'tuh-ma-toe sorce'.

When I was in Grade 3 in Australia, someone told me not to confuse the words "sauce" and "source". Since I wasn't really listening with an Australian accent then (everyone sounded normal, and I couldn't tell that I didn't speak the same way as them), I had no idea what he was talking about because the two words sounded completely different.

[Nate the Great]

Banana ketchup? Actually, that sounds like a good name for a rock band.

Yeah, I'm told that with a certain accent "garnish" turns into "gornish." I'm sure a similar phenomenon happens all over the place.

[AKAArzosah]

Originally Posted by Sa'ar Chasm

When I was in Grade 3 in Australia, someone told me not to confuse the words "sauce" and "source". Since I wasn't really listening with an Australian accent then (everyone sounded normal, and I couldn't tell that I didn't speak the same way as them), I had no idea what he was talking about because the two words sounded completely different.

I agree that they sound completely different, I'm just finding it impossible to WRITE how they SOUND.

In my opinion there's a very distinct 'r' sound in both, but MORE distinctive in 'source'. Then again, there are differences across Australia just like there are in the US - not as pronounced, but definitely there.