Re: Happy Pancake Day! (P.S.)

In my childhood we went to "chapel" (Methodist) and were taught to consider "church" (Anglican, Episcopalian) as the opposition. And Catholic was a derogatory term. Even the "chapel" folk were split between Wesleyan Methodist & Primitive Methodist. Fortunately I escaped from the village to join the RAF at the age of 16!

I suspect many people have a runcible spoon, but dont know what it is. They are used quite often to serve salads. They are a spoon with sort of tines at the leading edge. On another use of the word, many years ago, when we had to write our own programs to use a computer, there was a language called RUNCIBLE, Revised UNified Compile IT Basic Language Extended. Does anyone else remember this?

I'll bet! My very Catholic neighbor has given up gossip for Lent. Who am I going to share the latest antics of certain neighbors with?

Cheryl

Us?

Taco Bell ( a fast food chain once loved by DS) has "sporks" which look quite like a runcible spoon.

Oh, my, are we both old?

Cheryl Isaak ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

You can tell us lol

Here's an explanation for those not in the know - it's rather a nice one.

I understand that it came about because you were about to begin fasting for Lent - just as it is called Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) because it was the last day you could eat meat until Easter, pancakes became the traditional meal on Shrove Tuesday to use up the last of the eggs. (Remember, too, that in the dark months preceding Spring, the hens would not be laying many eggs, so they would be scarce)

Today, for many people, the religious meaning has gone out of these days, so the religious name(s) have dropped away and the secular names have become more common.

The Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day change has simply come about through conflation of the two different celebrations - March (UK) and May (North America).

MargW

The translation would lose something.... S. (SAHD, next door) antics would fade to mere smiles...

MargW ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Mothering Sunday is a church celebration though and Mothers Day a civic invention with no religious ties.

I prefer the concept of Mothering Sunday (it was when maids, footmen etc were allowed the Sunday off to visit with their mother and they generally picked primroses from the hedgerows as they walked home) because it is not the big commercial bonanza that Mothers Day is in NA.

My kids have all learned that elaborate gifts and sugary cards are NOT appreciated here - I like them to call in, but that's anytime, not just Mothers Day.

Yes! Well, not a real one, but one I decided was a runcible spoon when I was of "The Owl and the Pussycat" age. It was hammered silver and I seem to have reasoned that the hammer indentations made it "runcible."

BTW, one of my daughters is an ardent Ricardian.

Felice

Maureen is also an ardent ricardian (hence the email address). When we lived in England we visited pretty well every abbey, castle etc with any Richard III connections. Middleham was our favourite and the Black Swan was always a pleasant place to stay. We took part in several re-enactments when we lived in Tewkesbury, Glos.