Magical Substance

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Magical Substance

Editor's Note: I can tell that a lot of the writers/poets participating in the daily prompt challenges on social media are young folk. One way is that they love to pick words conducive to writing horror stories, or at least ones that introduce that delightful 'eww!' factor so beloved of kids. Me, I am sneaky, and delight in subverting such suggestions. The word of the day was, believe it or not, 'congeal'. I thought of jello, because of course I did.

Tavaron, SashaQ, and I then had a wonderful time discussing the reception of jello in different countries. I learned the wonderful Austrian word 'Wackelpudding'.

American flapper:<br/> This is jello.<br/> Delicious stuff.<br/> It wriggles,<br/> It jiggles.<br/> It's light,<br/> It's sweet.<br/> <br/> (Also, if you wait until the Fifties,<br/> Tom Lehrer, a mathematician, will<br/> invent the jello shot. Too late, alas,<br/> for the Roaring Twenties.)<br/> <br/> If you put in fruit or veggies, you <br/> can get away with calling it a <br/> congealed salad. See? It's healthy. <br/> Certified kosher after long debate.<br/> <br/> You'd think words would matter, <br/> but no: Germans won't eat it even <br/> if you call it 'the food of the gods.'<br/> <br/> Take it from Betty Boop there:<br/> It's the bee's knees.<br/> Image: Woman from the 1920s preparing to serve jello at her dinner party, plus a stray and weird jello mould with grapes in.
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10.02.25 Front Page

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