November 28, 2010

I thought we'd finally hit the year when efforts to use "tryptophan" in Thanksgiving jokes had ended.

But hoary old NPR is still purveying them. Christmas is coming up, so I'm steeling myself for jokes about how no one actually likes fruitcake.

17 comments:

TML said...

Read "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote to see what a real fruitcake is. Not a gay Capote joke, either. You'll weep first.

Unknown said...

The one below it is better. And a Hell of a lot more apt.

Ann Althouse said...

I'm steeling myself for jokes about how no one actually like fruitcake.

Johnny Carson had a theory that there was only one fruitcake in the world and nobody really knew what to do with it, so it just kept getting passed.

/ducks

Anonymous said...

The answer to the question, "Can America Get Enough of Sara Palin?" is:

Apparently not.

Her enemies, especially her enemies, want to talk about nothing else.

Andrea said...

I like fruitcake. It can be very good with spiced mulled wine or some other hot drink. But you can't eat but one small piece at a time really. It's quite rich. People don't like it because you can't eat huge amount like you can some bland popular dessert like chocolate cake. Also it doesn't appeal to a kid's tastebuds, and many people's food tastes seem to have stopped developing at around age ten these days.

MadisonMan said...

My Mom always bought a Claxton Fruitcake at Christmas. She was the only one that ate it, and it lasted a long time. They were long rectangular cubes. The packages still look the same as they did in the 1970s.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

MadisonMan said...

My Mom always bought a Claxton Fruitcake at Christmas. She was the only one that ate it, and it lasted a long time.

Same here, only it was my dad. I still have trouble thinking of fruitcake in any other form.

They were long rectangular cubes.

Somewhere, your geometry teacher is weeping.

(Sorry, I could never resist an easy shot...)

Carol said...

I was inspired by a gift fruitcake some friends got years ago, which had no candied fruit but plenty nuts, raisins, currants and dates. So that's the way I make mine. It's fun to make because there are so many ingredients, like orange juice and molasses.

The candied bits in commercial fruitcakes really gross me out.

MadisonMan said...

I was trying to think: What is the name of something with a square cross-section but a longer length?

At one point I knew. :)

TML said...

rectangular hexahedron.

Mr HaHa is laughing somewhere and thinking he made a great deal for that lone bottle of whiskey...

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

MadisonMan said...

I was trying to think: What is the name of something with a square cross-section but a longer length?

At one point I knew. :)


Heh. If I remembered, I would've included it in my snark. At one point I knew, too. TML's answer jibes with wikipedia, but I swear I knew a different answer once.

Mary Beth said...

What is the name of something with a square cross-section but a longer length?

A loaf.

TML said...

Ahhhh...Mary Beth. Good one.

I believe the suffix "-hedron" is the 3D version of "angle" or "agon"

No one else has read "A Christmas Memory"?

Peter Hoh said...

This year, they can write witty commentary about eschewing the obligatory jokes about how no one actually likes fruitcake.

Chip Ahoy said...

Hahaha. I like the Happy Thanksgiving spelled out in turkey-ASL.

MamaM said...

Regarding A Christmas Memory: Real it is TML, touching my heart, making me want another taste.

About that sort of one-of-a-kind goodness. "There's never two of anything."

Thank you. I'd not read it before tonight.

Here's a link that works if you close the annoying pop up. A Christmas Memory.

Harry said...

Public Broadcasting is for old liberals and they can't remember much, so they are comforted by the familiar jokes on topics like tryptophan that have managed to wear grooves into their memories. They never get tired of them, like jokes about how crooked Nixon was or how noble and idealistic hippies were.

Sigivald said...

Hmm. I should make a fruitcake this year, and see how people like a real, fresh one.

Probably pretty well, I bet.