Schneid Remarks 8-17-23

From the archives 25 years ago…

We here up in da nort had a conversation da udder day bout da food we eat and what we’all call it.

Hot dish of course was the first of many discussions around the dinner, or supper table, whichever you prefer, but we’ll discuss that later.

It is hard for me to believe that many people don’t know what hot dish is.

Hot dish, of course, is a combination of all the leftovers from the past four days, all mixed together in a cake pan, along with hamburger and some sort of potatoes, whether it be hashbrowns or tater tots.

I guess you could call this concoction a casserole, but I always thought a casserole is what you bake the concoction in.

I think I use hot dish much more than I do casserole.

How about the word pop?

What do you call your favorite drink of choice?

Is it soda pop, is it soda, is it pop, is it soft drink, or is it coke?

A lot of people flat out call their Pepsis and Mountain Dews cola. Why, I don’t know.

I always say pop but as Bernadine used to say, pop is her dad, so maybe pop isn’t correct either.

But when and where did the words soft drink ever come into the equation?

The last time I slammed a couple of gulps of Coca Cola it was anything but soft. It gave me a headache and also provided my throat with a very strong tingling, or should I say, burning sensation.

Some soft drinks are also much more harsh than light beers, so soft drink it ain’t in my vocabulary.

And don’t get me started in the Pepsi vs. Coke debate.

Speaking of ain’t, my mother 45 years ago used to tell me ain’t ain’t a word because ain’t ain’t in the dictionary.

I checked yesterday and lo and behold, ain’t is in the Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary.

Are not, am not, is not, have not, and has not were listed as definitions.

I guess I ain’t going to check any other sources because the 7th Edition is good enough, ain’t it?

Now for the meal debate. Which meal is it at noon? Is it lunch or is it dinner? I remember when I was growing up on the farm and we all came in at noon for our meal, we called it dinner.

Now I guess I call my noon meal lunch, because I guess I don’t eat as much. (Insert laughter here).

So what do we call the nighttime meal? Is is dinner or supper? I hear both sides of this debate, which really isn’t a debate, but it is often discussed for some reason.

I call it dinner, but when my wife and I go out to eat, we call it supper. Or is it supper when we eat at home and dinner when we go out? Or is it lunch if we only have appetizers during the early evening hours?

I just think supper sounds more formal than dinner.

Well, it is 5:30 Monday evening and I am going home to the refrigerator (ice box), for a cold pop (soda), and will put dinner (supper) in the oven (stove), wait until the buzzer (timer) rings, pull it out with my hot pads (mittens), go sit in my chair (recliner), and start using the proper utensils (fork and knife). Later I will grab a good book (novel), or flick on the TV (tube), with my channel changer (remote control), and eventually later rest my eyes (sleep).

By the way, if you ask me what type of day it has been, I would have to give you the standard answer (good). Don’t really know what good means, but everyone uses it.