Pronunciation watch

[vinteuil]

"bis" - again, a second time ; "cuit" - cooked ...

[Don Petter]

Don't know about the biscuits, but in ceramics 'biscuit' firing is the first firing, after which the piece is glazed & then fired again. So really a biscuit fired piece (or bisque) is once-fired (except that in ceramics once-fired means that you don't do a biscuit firing before glazing).

But isn't that just because the unglazed surface looks like a food-type biscuit, without any glaze, and nothing to do with the true derivation, as given above and below?

[mikerotheatrenestr0y]

They sat in silence, because they didn't want to listen to Radio 3 any more. They sat silent, because they were all scared that if they spoke one of them would commit a solecism. Anything to say about my other examples of adjectives used with verbs? And I still can't see a place for a comma in "Go boil your head!" [I really do hasten to add that there is no personal animosity whatever involved in my choice of example, nor indeed in my struggle to expand the expressive possibilities of the English language by making distinctions for which there is probably no basis in reality except the difference between certain linguistic formulations which I wish corresponded to the desire to say something [even ever so slightly] different.]

[Flosshilde]

But isn't that just because the unglazed surface looks like a food-type biscuit, without any glaze, and nothing to do with the true derivation, as given above and below?

I'm sure you're right, Don - I was just trying to add more confusion

[marthe]

Good luck with the cake, marthe, and thanks for the info on cookies. The word "biscuit" of course comes from the French and means "twice cooked", which our biscuits are.

Thanks for your good wishes, Mangerton. I supose biscuit and zweiback mean the same thing, twice-baked. Zweiback biscuits ( as they are called over here) are little toast-like cookies that are given to teething infants. I suppose these serve the same purpose as rusks.

[Don Petter]

I'm sure you're right, Don - I was just trying to add more confusion

Well, I'm all for that, Floss. Keep stirring the pot!

[mangerton]

Yes, I was just about to post that. The more confusion the better. That's nature's way after all - think of entropy.

[Don Petter]

Nothing like a big bowl of entropy to start the day on a cold frosty morning!

[gurnemanz]

Thanks for your good wishes, Mangerton. I supose biscuit and zweiback mean the same thing, twice-baked. Zweiback biscuits ( as they are called over here) are little toast-like cookies that are given to teething infants. I suppose these serve the same purpose as rusks.

Although the German for two is zwei, for obscure historical reasons the correct spelling is Zwieback. The same happens with Zwielicht (twilight) and some other compond nouns. They also use Biskuit for this item. It is not what we call a biscuit - more like a rusk-like sweet toast. The traditional German word for our idea of a biscuit is Plätzchen, but most of the time now Germans refer to Keks (plural Kekse), based on the name used by the firm Bahlsen for its famous Leibniz biscuits. There is also a similar figurative usage in German to the English "that takes the biscuit". "Er geht mir auf den Keks" = he gets on my nerves.

[Ferretfancy]

Small question - if the French invented the word biscuit, how come they are so bad at making them?

[french frank]

Small question - if the French invented the word biscuit, how come they are so bad at making them?

They call them gâteaux secs which includes things like the delicious 'langues de chat'. I wonder whether they had anything to do with 'Petits Beurre' which, to my mind, with Osborne biscuits (anything to do with the Isle of Wight?), are the best we have. Ha! The French Wikipedia says: "Il [le petit-beurre] a été inventé en 1886 par Louis Lefèvre-Utile dans la ville de Nantes en s'inspirant des productions anglaises de l'époque.' So what did we call them?

[marthe]

gurnemanz, you are correct about the spelling of zwieback. My mistake...and I should have known better as the Nabisco Zwieback box was a staple item in my childhood household. Thank you for futher information about German biscuits and "Keks". Could this be related to the Dutch/Flemish "koek" for cake? "Koekje" or "little cake" becomes "cookie" the American word for biscuit. Over here, we say "that takes the cake"!

[mercia]

Osborne biscuits (anything to do with the Isle of Wight?)

Osborne Biscuits
These were originally produced in 1860 and were one of the first semi-sweet varieties of biscuit to find mass favour. Initially intended to be called after Queen Victoria, Her Majesty declined to be associated with a commercial product but gracefully suggested that they could name the biscuit after her favourite home, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

(Huntley & Palmers website)

[vinteuil]

Ha! The French Wikipedia says: "Il [le petit-beurre] a été inventé en 1886 par Louis Lefèvre-Utile dans la ville de Nantes en s'inspirant des productions anglaises de l'époque.'

"Lefevre Utile, better known in North America by the initials LU, is a manufacturer brand of French biscuits, emblematic of the city of Nantes. The brand is now part of Kraft Foods since 2007, after its acquisition from the group Danone. The Petit-Beurre remains the flagship product alongside the Boudoir, Champagne, Petit Four, Prince, Pim's, Paille d'Or, etc. Lefèvre-Utile was founded in Nantes, France, in 1846 by Jean-Romain Lefèvre. In the first times he sold biscuits from the English factory Huntley & Palmers and then he began his own production. The name LU comes from Lefèvre and his business partner and wife, Pauline-Isabelle Utile. Their initials were first utilized by Alfons Mucha for an 1897 calendar ad for the Lefèvre-Utile Biscuit Co. That same year the company hired Firmin Bouisset to create a poster ad. Bouisset, already noted for his work for the Menier Chocolate company, created Petit Écolier ("the Little Schoolboy") which incorporated the LU initials. Bouisset's poster was used extensively and the image was embossed on the company's Petit Beurre line of biscuits. Within a few years, the success of the logo resulted in the company becoming known as LU. The founder's son, Louis Lefèvre-Utile, took over the company and eventually it was acquired by Générale Biscuit S.A., which in turn was sold to Groupe Danone in 1986. Although an international brand today, LU products are primarily distributed in Western Europe, and in 2005 represented nearly half of the sales for Danone's biscuits and cereal division. In November 2007, LU was sold to Kraft Foods."

Thus wiki...

If you ever find yourself in Nantes - which is a place I can highly recommend, they really know their savoir-vivre there - you won't be able to escape the signs of Lefèvre-Utile (LU), for long a large presence in the town...

[Nick Armstrong]

The most delicious and moreish biscuits ever, as far as I am concerned, are the little butter biscuits from Brittany known as 'galettes bretonnes'... Among the best regional
varieties are the 'galettes de Pleyben' http://storage.canalblog.com/30/62/373961/50595940.jpg

But of the mass-produced ones, LU come top of this survey:

http://www.linternaute.com/comparatif/categorie/182/

Absolutely addictive, I have been known to finish a whole box at one sitting

Not to be confused with the other sort of 'galettes' which are the buckwheat pancakes used for savoury 'crêpes' - also delicious and addictive (my favourite is a 'complète' - ham, grated cheese and an egg http://stephlynne.files.wordpress.co...e-complete.jpg )