When I look at the search terms that lead random readers to this site, I am never surprised to see "sentence with the word suave" or "how to cheat on excelsior college exams," but the other day I saw a string I've never encountered before: "connotations of serving gruel." I do not recall ever having written about the connotations of serving gruel, but the person who googled gruelishly was led to a post called Gruel R Us, in which I engage in some smackdown re: potato soup. I suspect that the reader found this post unsatisfying. To do justice to the difficult question of the connotations of serving gruel, though, I would need a few answers of my own:
In what context are you concerned about the connotations of serving gruel?
Did you encounter "gruel" in a text and find it so utterly unfamiliar that you had to look it up? Civilization as we know it may be going to hell in a handbasket, but at least we can be grateful for living at a time in which personal familiarity with gruel is optional.
Are you trying to answer a question on an exam? If so, what are you studying? Something Dickensian, no doubt, or else Austen's Emma, in which Mr. Woodhouse enjoys his evening bowl of thin gruel prepared just so. Does the next question ask you to define "valetudinarian"? If so, it's Emma for sure.
Are you interested in serving gruel at an upcoming family holiday feast? If so, why? Are you trying to recreate for your loved ones the pinched existence of Ebeneezer Scrooge? I'm talking about the pre-visitation Scrooge, of course, not the more expansive Scrooge we encounter after the ghosts have had their say. Here's a suggestion for a new holiday tradition: on Christmas Eve, read aloud passages from A Christmas Carol while your friends and loved ones gather round a meager fire trying to find sustenance in bowls of thin gruel.
If some wee child holds up the empty bowl and asks in a shaky voice, "Please, sir, may I have some more?", that's your cue to knock the bowl out of his hands and say, "You're in the wrong book, kid. Get back where you belong!"
I wouldn't want to speculate about the connotations of such an action in your particular context, but it would certainly be a Christmas to remember.
4 comments:
TOO funny! Great way to start the day ~ Laura (friend, not daughter)
My guess is that they're working on a paper relating to society in Dickensian "times" - perhaps a compare and contrast of real life poor to those portrayed by Dickens. Or looking to see how those who would have initially read Dickens would have reacted to the gruel meals. Seeing that you're professor, they may be expecting some real academic commentary on gruel.
Interesting nonetheless.
That's pretty funny, Bev! :) Betsy
Too funny, great way to start the day! Laura~ Daughter and friend... bwa hah aha ha!
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