Still Dealing with the Lurgies...

Sorry I haven't been posting folks. I'm still suffering from my illness, and believe it or not, I'm too stuffed up to sit and look at a screen that long. Och weel.

Today I'm meant to "move" to the house where My Lady and I are house-sitting. Fi's been called into work, so... I have to move us all by m'self... And I'm not looking forward to it. Och weel... I'll survive.

Fi received her Social Security Number "S.S.N." (sort of like a National Insurance thing, Brits...) and can finally get PAID by the coffee-shop she's been slaving away at for the past three weeks.

Yay!

Not only that, but she can also get her bank account BACK, since they took it away from her, due to the lack of the S.S.N. So, we're happy about that.

Abi asked about Crisco in a comment today...

Kelly was nice enough to answer (thanks Kel), but I thought I'd expand a bit on it...

Like Kelly said, Crisco is actually Vegetable Shortening. We Yanks use it in place of Lard (since the healthy crap started back in the 60's.) And the question... "What is Crisco" is interesting... Because also, like Kelly said... Crisco is a Brand that makes all sorts of cooking oils, fats and shortenings. However... When a recipe calls for "Crisco" they always mean the "shortening" not any of the other products... It's just a "cultural" thing... We Yanks KNOW what that means, but obviously... People from elsewhere wouldn't.

It's a conversation that My Lady and I were having last week...

American's tend to "Brand" everything... Not only "naming" something by it's brand, but also "verbing" occasionally due to a brand name... A short list of "Minnesotanisms" that we use...

• Xerox = photocopy. Yep... We "xerox" things when we use a photocopier... Also, if we "need to copy something" we'd say, "Where's the xerox machine" even if it's a Canon, or some other brand... Basically... Xerox was the "first" copier, so it got the name AND the verb.

• Kleenex = a tissue (for one's nose). Again... Kleenex being the first brand over here... We use Kleenex for the word "tissue." Case in point... "Mother, can you pick up some Kleenex on the way home, I've used up most of the stuff we had here." (Actual request made this weekend, by yours truly) Her answer was to purchase a bunch of "Puffs" tissues... Not actual "Kleenex brand" tissues. Puffs are softer on my poor 'ickle nose.

• Legos - coloured bricks made by the Lego company. This one is funny, as the company keeps "asking Yanks" to stop calling them "Legos" and instead call them "Lego "brand" Bricks" Yeah... whatever... They're fucking LEGOS, okay?

• Ovaltine or Quik - Chocolate milk-powder. This is really an interesting one... As there's two competing brands for the chocolate-milk powder market... Nestle's "Quik" and British Associated Food's: "Ovaltine" brand name. Anyhoo... I used to ask my mother for a "milk with Quik" as opposed to a "Chocolate milk" I've been told this is weird... But most people OLDER than me, don't think so... So.... There you go. Really strange thing... When I was looking for the link to "Quik" it's called "Nesquik" now... Which is I think the British/European name for it... Weird.

• Velveeta - a type of "American" cheese 'PRODUCT" that melts easily. Usually, ANY really "melty" cheese that's "American" is called Velveeta... Although, Kraft Foods has done a good job of taking over the entire market in "melty" American cheese... So... I can't think of another brand at the mo'.

I'm sure there's more things out there... (Any Yanks want to give it a go?) We'll try to add to the list.

Okay... I'm off... Laundry calls.

- Tuckmac