Last evening, I enjoyed the company of some old friends, a bonfire and an array of traditional campfire foods. After enjoying some lovely hot dogs of unknown provenance (when it comes to the tubular meats, I find it less disconcerting if I don’t examine them too closely, to be honest), we also melted chocolate and roasted marshmallows over the fire to create the traditional dessert known as S’mores, one of the few food items in the world to be named worse than ‘kumquats.’ One of my friends, an even bigger lover of puns and wordplay than I am, began sharing with us a recipe using peanut butter cups in place of the chocolate, something that he dubbed “S’moregasms.” I don’t have a clear memory of what immediately followed that, as a small portion of my brain cells attempted to break free and escape my skull, or at the very least erase the memory of such a horrible, HORRIBLE name for what admittedly sounded like a tasty treat. Though those rogue neurons didn’t achieve their liberation, they did at least beg a query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) also considers the preservation of the environment to be a cause worthy of our time and effort, but can’t help but snort at the name ‘Prius,’ asking: What’s the most wonderful thing to have an utterly stupid/ridiculous name?
14 Comments
While it may be accurate to at least one of the ingredients, egg nog is a terrible name. The problem, is that egg nog is a wonderful beverage (both alcoholic and virgin varieties). I wish I had the mentality that I had as a child. Back then, I could just pour myself a glass of the wonderful elixir, switch to the channel that had the burning log loop and feel myself transform into the spirit of Christmas. But now, I can’t help but think about what exactly “nog” is and how silly of a word it is. Egg nog is still delicious, but now part of it’s appeal is how it overcomes it’s name. Which is somewhat sad.
Nog is sort of a bastardization of the word grog, the beverage was originally known as Egged Grog because that’s what it was. For some reason, we’ve decided to keep the nog and ditch the grog.
Some people think that this came from nog being a shortened term for noggin and to have and egged noggin meant that you’d had too much to drink and were feeling a bit addled. It’s easy to see how after a few too many glasses things could get mixed up.
Anyway, I hope that helps!
It does. Thank you. Still a silly name.
Poutine.
There is a shop near where I work that does pulled pork poutine, and it is incredible.
Poutine is a wonderful food and I am so happy that even here in Minnesota I can’t get it regularly. I would be a much larger man than today if things were different.
Snickerdoodles.
2nd, two cookies that sandwich a delightful piece of fluff.
My vote goes to British cake, Spotted Dick. ´Nuff said..
Horseshoes and Ponyshoes (the food). It is basically toast or a bun with a burger patty that is covered in fries and drenched in cheese sauce and is one of the most wonderful things ever, but there is not any horse or pony or their shoes involved (thankfully).
And I gotta agree with all of the above posts as well.
Though not food still kind of a stupid name: I did some computer work for an England Native and he had a picture up that made me thnik.
first picture – Football – includes a foot and a ball (as in soccer)
Second picture – Hand Egg – American Football. uses hands and an egg shaped “ball”
So my vote, even though I love it, “football” the american kind.
The name has nothing to do with how much they kick the ball. Whether this is a good reason or not, it is because the regulation length of an American football is approximately 12 inches–one foot.
still not sure if I want to consider it a ball, but yes I do know WHY they call it football, still makes it a kind of ridiculous name.
A Pie Floater:
A South Australian dish which has a meat pie flipped over lid-down onto a bowl of pea-soup. Tasty but wackadoo!
While not really on the tasty tasty side of the food spectrum, the weirdest to me has always been “sweet breads”. They are neither sweet nor bread, and very deceiving to the unsuspecting…