"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Only in recent years have I understood what you guys mean by a biscuit. I wonder if my fellow readers outside the US do?
I guess our traditional damper eaten with meals was a bit like your biscuits, but that stopped many generations ago and we mostly just mimicked English meals of meat and 3 veg.
You have history on your side: biscuit (n.) respelled early 19c. from bisket (16c.), ultimately (besquite, early 14c.) from Old French bescuit "biscuit" (12c.), altered under influence of cognate Old Italian biscotto, both from Medieval Latin biscoctum, literally "twice-baked," from Latin (panis) bis coctus "(bread) twice-baked;" see bis- + cook (v.). Originally a kind of hard, dry bread baked in thin cakes; U.S. sense of "small, round soft bun" is recorded from 1818. (etymonline)
In fact a lot of old US stuff is just older British stuff which you preserved (and we forgot), like the emphasis on liberty from the English Civil War.
Only in recent years have I understood what you guys mean by a biscuit. I wonder if my fellow readers outside the US do?
ReplyDeleteI guess our traditional damper eaten with meals was a bit like your biscuits, but that stopped many generations ago and we mostly just mimicked English meals of meat and 3 veg.
Yeah, on this side of the pond, we always wondered, in those English movies, why biscuits always looked like cookies.
ReplyDeleteYou have history on your side:
ReplyDeletebiscuit (n.)
respelled early 19c. from bisket (16c.), ultimately (besquite, early 14c.) from Old French bescuit "biscuit" (12c.), altered under influence of cognate Old Italian biscotto, both from Medieval Latin biscoctum, literally "twice-baked," from Latin (panis) bis coctus "(bread) twice-baked;" see bis- + cook (v.). Originally a kind of hard, dry bread baked in thin cakes; U.S. sense of "small, round soft bun" is recorded from 1818. (etymonline)
In fact a lot of old US stuff is just older British stuff which you preserved (and we forgot), like the emphasis on liberty from the English Civil War.
I love etymology, always have.
ReplyDeleteI've had a hankering for biscuits and gravy lately. That's white gravy for the unfamiliar. Tomorrow, we're going to one of local favorites, so....
ReplyDelete