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Slang at the Internet Archive

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It has been a little while since Clement Skitt showed up on the bean, but you may have gleaned from Clement Skitt’s word of the day that I have a bit of an affinity for vintage slang. I gave that affinity a place to live by making it a love of Clement Skitt, a comic character from Levi Levi and the Time Machine. Since the last word of the day post, I’ve stumbled on a couple more old slang dictionaries on the Internet Archive and figured I’d share in case you would like to peruse them while I do some reading up.

Cooky Cookie

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I know I am not the first person to ponder the frequent incidence of the word ‘cooky’ in old cooking pamphlets and recipe books, but no one has yet explored this ‘alternate spelling’ on the internets to my edification. And ‘alternate spelling’ is what is given as a reason for the existence of ‘cooky’ in dictionaries. I thought maybe cooky’s etymological history would explain it, but no. The Online Etymology Dictionary says simply that ‘cookie’ is possibly derived from a 1730 Scottish term meaning “plain bun,” but it’s definition in 1808 as a “small, flat, sweet cake” is more similar to the Dutch koekje “little cake,” a diminutive of koek “cake.”

The etymological histories didn’t even get into how British English calls the same types of confection ‘biscuits.’ Michele Debczak at Mental Floss (2012) points out that the two ‘sweet baked goods’ actually refer to two different types of confection, but does not explore why, even if they have been categorically described as either slower cooking soft thick dough (cookie) or a thin crisp baking stiff dough (biscuit), the terms are more often used based on country and not on type of bake.

I was foolishly hoping to find some online search or service that could comb through historical resources for word popularity similar to how Google Trends combs through the internet search history, but alas. The closest I got was the Google books ngram viewer, which can report on the frequency of words within the Google Books catalog (Wikipedia).

The graph that resulted confirmed what I was seeing in my recipe books and cooking pamphlets, that ‘cooky’ was used most during the mid 20th century, but it didn’t feel like the whole story. After all, Google Books doesn’t really have a lot of recipe books, and recipes were also popularly shared in newspapers.

Chronicling America at the Library of Congress returned massive results when searching for ‘cooky’ that I thought were bogus at first. It seemed to me that the results interchangeably included both ‘cookie’ and ‘cooky.’ This can happen sometimes when search engines are smart enough to correct for misspellings but also not smart enough to search misspellings when quotes are included.

But then I realized that the results were not because of spelling corrections! Both spellings were used in most of the results! From the earliest result I could find in my (definitely not exhaustive) search: 1826, to a mid-century result in 1948, ‘cooky’ was being used as the singular, while ‘cookies’ was the plural.

newspaper showing section 'New Year's Cookies'
Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]), 10 Jan. 1826. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
newspaper page showing oatmeal cooky mix recipe
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 26 Sept. 1948. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

The 1826 mention that I found, above, also calls the collected confections ‘cakes,’ bringing to mind the Dutch koekje. The earliest I could find ‘cookie’ used as the singular was in an 1895 poem about a ‘Cookie Man.’

The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]), 27 April 1895. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90053049/1895-04-27/ed-1/seq-7/>

The next time I found ‘cookie’ in the singular sense was also a name. I am not quite sure when ‘cookie’ became an alternate for ‘cooky’ but it seems safe to say that instead of simply an alternate spelling, ‘cooky’ is actually the old use singular of ‘cookies.’

In the garden

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butterfly on lemon grass leaf

What’s Old is New: from the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum

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From the Garden

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photo of pineapples in vases

Gyrojets: No Nukes

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Paisley, Chintz, and Calico: are they all the same?

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“File:Suzanne Roy, Chintz, c. 1936, NGA 13099.jpg” by Suzanne Roy is licensed under CC0 1.0
“Rainy day at V&A” by Kotomi_ is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
“Fragment” is licensed under CC0 1.0

I have been having some big dreams about decor DIYs that will just make everything in my house a little extra better. A lot of the ideas are actually for small projects, many small projects that all require fabric or pattern. So, I found myself perusing Spoonflower for fabric and wallpapers. In the search for my favorite variety of floral, something I have always thought of as Jacobean (above), I realized that all of my vocabulary is wrong. Or at least the modern application of the vocabulary by designers uploading patterns to Spoonflower is completely different than mine. I am not a textile historian, so I could never argue that my descriptive word choice is the right one, which is what led me down this particular rabbit hole.

Turns out I didn’t really have the wrong word. Patterns popular in Jacobean design were influenced by both Flemish tapestries and Indian palampores. The designs were flowing and floral, with acanthus leaves arranged all over, delicate flowering trees inspired by palampores, and birds, animals, and the tree of life taken from crewel embroidery.

Yet Jacobean is not what people reliably label the floral, acanthus leaf, or all over tree of life patterns.

“The Tree of Life: A ceramic tile mural, Bayacas, Granada Province, Andalucía, Spain” by Spencer Means is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
“Tabriz Tree of Life Deer Persian Rug” by Carpetbeggers is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Tree of Life business card bifold” by DJorgensen is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Of course, tree of life designs now come in many different varieties, and rarely show up as the all over pattern from the ‘Tabriz Tree of Life Deer Person Rug’ example above. So then I noticed, while searching, that many of the designs I was looking for were labeled as chintz.

“Woodblock Printed Chintz Fragment” by Bannister Hall (British) is licensed under CC0 1.0
“cream and sugar” by VeganHeart Always is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
“Textile” is licensed under CC0 1.0

My initial ideas of chintz was a big, ‘blousy,’ floral with large cabbage roses in a kind of pastel on pastel print that I remembered from grandma couches in the early 80s. It turns out that chintz is the name for any printed cotton fabric with a glazed finish and bright multicolored patterns. The patterns were eventually applied to many other textiles, like wall paper and ceramic, so now chintz is simply an all over floral. This would include my Jacobean floral ideal, but it also gave me a lot more to wade through. Then I wondered…what is calico? I thought calico was an all over floral print…

“Iran Esfahan _DSC7029” by youngrobv is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Classic Calico (red w/tan background)” by cottagetocastlechic is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Eye Candy (Pioneer-Era Prints)” by A.Davey is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

And, it is, at least in the U.S. where the printed cotton became known as calico instead of just the plain woven unbleached cotton that is called calico in the UK. Calico, like the palampores that inspired Jacobean patterns and the chintz that took Europe by storm in the 1600s, originated in India. The calico pattern is also ensconced within the overarching concept of chintz.

“paisley pattern working graph (Copy)” by paisleyorguk is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“File:Persian Silk Brocade – Paisley – Persian Paisley – Abdollah Salami – 1939.jpg” by Sialkgraph is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
“Paisley” by Brett Jordan is licensed under CC BY 2.0

But paisley is not chintz, mostly. Sometimes when the paisley teardrop is included in a rambling floral design like the ‘Paisley” on the right, it is chintz? But mostly, paisley is the one floral print exception that is viewed separately from chintz. Paisley is of Persian origin, and the teardrop shaped designs were also imported from India into the UK where the pattern was given the name paisley after the town of Paisley where it was produced.

And, here is where I want to wriggle back out of the rabbit hole. I found that yes, Jacobean floral, calico, and sometimes paisley are all chintz, but chintz is not necessarily always either Jacobean floral, calico or paisley. Whether this statement is wholly accurate doesn’t really matter either, because platforms that allow tag and metadata creation by up-loaders are always going to suffer from the popular understanding of a term, if there is any real understanding.

References

Tip of the Iceberg

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Basements are rare things in Florida, so in my fantasies basements have everything.

What’s old is new: war time food posters at artvee.com

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Be Patriotic sign your country’s pledge to save the food (ca 1917). https://artvee.com/dl/be-patriotic-sign-your-countrys-pledge-to-save-the-food
Don’t waste food, lick the platter clean (1944). https://artvee.com/dl/dont-waste-food-lick-the-platter-clean/
Dig for…Plenty. Grow food in your garden or get an allotment (between 1939 and 1946). https://artvee.com/dl/dig-for-plenty-grow-food-in-your-garden-or-get-an-allotment/
Dig for Plenty. Grow food in your garden or get an allotment (between 1939 and 1946). https://artvee.com/dl/dig-for-plenty-grow-food-in-your-garden-or-get-an-allotment-2/

Chocolate Tipsy Cake

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My friends and I started up a book club to get us reading, and among other titles, we are reading books from Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic series. Hoffman’s books are full of mentions of curative foods and drinks, yet very few full recipes are included. Fan’s of the series have already jumped in to fill this omission and have created recipes in an attempt to approximate those mentioned in fiction. One of the best versions of Aunt Isabelle’s Chocolate Tipsy Cake, as is mentioned in the Rules of Magic is the one on Potpourri with Rosemarie. True to form, I changed the recipe a little when I made it, and I flubbed the icing, but it is one delicious cake!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 c unsweetened cocoa powder + additional for dusting pan
  • 1 c fresh coffee
  • 1/2 c dark rum
  • 1 c salted butter
  • 1.5 c brown sugar
  • 2 c flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 c buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch clove
  • 1/2 bar dark chocolate (chopped)

Preheat oven to 325 while you grease and dust with cocoa powder a large bunt pan. Add to a saucepan on medium-low heat: coffee, rum, butter, cocoa powder, chopped chocolate bar, and sugar until all is melted and combined, then cool. Once the coffee and chocolate mixture is cool add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Sift in flour mixed with soda, cinnamon, and clove a little at a time until well combined. Pour into pan and bake 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

The rum icing, in the recipe on Potpourri with Rosemarie was made with chocolate chips, butter, half and half and dark rum. I had only the darkest chocolate on hand so I wanted to sweeten it. While I should have just added white sugar, I was lazy and dropped in simple syrup, which is why my glaze in the picture looks all lumpy and weird. It tasted lovely though.

Part of an old idea

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What’s Old is New: Exploring the Prelinger Archives

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The K-12 school system needs support and funding to ensure freedom and democracy:

Nuclear bombs can destroy the world:

Holidays in the Movies: Memorial Day

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When I initially embraced marking time and celebrating all holidays with movies, there were many holidays that I didn’t even consider. Memorial Day was one of those, along with a small handful of others that I plan to get to this year.

I have experienced the popular Memorial Day family barbecue, and I have also undertaken a road trip to the cemetery where my grandmother, grandfather, and great-grandmother are buried. Considering the sweltering heat in Florida by the end of May, both of these activities require a certain amount of psyching myself up each year.

After putting out the flag and thanking the soldiers who have died for this country, we in the Schmidt house will be watching:

note: post last updated 2025

Zodiac clock

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While visiting some of our excellent thrift stores I noticed a couple of mid century clocks with the zodiac arranged on the face. I was intrigued, I would have never suspected mainstream interest in the zodiac during the 40s and 50s. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me when we were shopping, but I did follow up with a search on eBay and found some more examples:

  • https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-1969-Mid-Century-Westclox-Maddux-Pottery-Calif-Zodiac-Clock-100-Working-/184706673367?nma=true&si=o46L5icj323zo1W6dDCDQElHZxQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
  • https://www.ebay.com/itm/33×33-Vintage-Mid-Century-Modern-Brutalist-Brass-Zodiac-Clock-Wall-Art-Sculpture/153407584550?hash=item23b7cdf926:g:cOEAAOSw78xcgbpA
  • https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Mid-Century-Modern-Airguide-Zodiac-Wall-Clock-Battery-Operated-WORKS-/233907266134?nma=true&si=o46L5icj323zo1W6dDCDQElHZxQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Of course, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted one of my own for my mid century house. It just so happened I had a clock face wood blank and a clock kit that I had inherited from my mother’s craft supplies.

As to the design, I noticed that there didn’t seem to be too much consistency in how the zodiac is arranged in reference to the hours display. Each of the examples I found starts in a different place. I decided to start mine where the zodiac signs would roughly line up if every hour were representative of the month of the year. I didn’t include a separate sectioning out of the clock face for the numbering so the dividing lines between zodiac signs serve as my hour marks. This effectively shifts the signs forward a bit, but the signs themselves do not start when the month starts so I was happy.

Early stages
tiny steps
first bits of color
final result

Overall, I am pretty happy with it. It was a soft, cheap wood that either flaked away in large chips with hand tools, or feathered up with a rotary carver. This forced me to change my design dreams a little and accept a less finely detailed result. I used paint to highlight the simple relief and cover carving mistakes. If I had been seeking out new supplies for this project, I would’ve made sure to obtain a harder wood that would’ve been more conducive to carving. Part of my pleasure in finishing this up, however, is most definitely tied to using material I already had in the house.

Travels of a bunny

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It sometimes happens that the smallest cat in the house likes the biggest toys. Spasmo is like that. She will tear through the house carrying a stuffed bunny the size of her own head, moving it from room to room.

  • Spasmo has brought the bunny
  • Gorgon pretends she brought it
  • Spasmo does not reach to get it
  • But she will pounce once it is down
  • And pounce some more
  • Until, at last, the bunny is deposited in a shoe

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