When Love Lets You Down

It's a cold bowl of chili
When love lets you down

Neil Young, "Saddle Up The Palomino," by Neil Young, Timothy Lee Drummond and Robert Charles Guidry, from the album American Stars 'n Bars, 1977.

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Names are tricky things. Shakespeare was a tad overoptimistic to say that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."¹ If that were true then marketing as a profession would be a sad and hollow thing.² Names matter.³ And one of the names that people in the US like to fight over is chili.⁴

Beans vs. no beans. Tomatoes vs. no  tomatoes. Ground meat or cubed. Does it have to be beef, or can you get more adventurous -- what about lamb, pork, chicken, venison, alligator, rattlesnake, and jerky? Questions like these can provoke people to engage in vicious, stupid arguments.  But most folks in the US agree that "chili" is short for "chili con carne," and that it's a Tex-Mex dish⁵ that was originally developed in the 19th century. Yes, everybody can agree on that.

Or can they...

[Image source: http://www.choosecincy.com/datacenter]

Welcome to Cincinnati, home of Cincinnati chili. Which isn't Tex-Mex chili. It has it's own ways, it's own taste. It's different. And according to some people,⁶ that means it's wrong.

It's not  chili! And they won't eat it! Not even a little bite! And they're willing to go to  bed without supper and they hate you!

Despite that not-at-all petulant outburst (which is based almost entirely, you'll note, on its name), to be fair, they're kind of right. It's not chili.

It's Cincinnati chili.

So what is Cincinnati chili?

According to Dann Woellert in his definitive The Authentic History of Cincinnati Chili⁷ Cincinnati chili's history began in Hroupista, Macedonia (now the town of Argos Orestiko (or Άργος Ορεστικό) in Greece, near the Albanian border, about 185 kilometers west of Thessaloniki).

"It was in [Hroupista] at the [end] of the 19th century that Slavic-Macedonians Konstantinos Kiradjieff and his wife, Kyratso Pappa [raised six children including four brothers: Argiro (born in 1880), Elias and Tom (both born in 1892), and John (born in 1894)] ... Argie had set himself up in Cincinnati by 1918 as the proprietor of a grocery store ... Argie ... brought the Kiradjieff brothers [Tom and John] to Cincinnati ... in the early 1920s." [Woellert pp. 21-22]

Tom and John Kiradjieff opened "The Empress Chili Parlor" in 1922 in the Empress Burlesk Theatre building (the Empress Burlesk Theatre had opened in 1915; it closed in 1929, and the site at 814 Vine Street is now next to the Cincinnati Public Library).

Chili "parlors" were actually quite common at this time. The earliest outside Texas appears to be Taylor's Mexican Chili Parlor which opened in Carlinville IL in 1904. The O.T. Hodge Chile [sic] Parlor, opened in Ferguson MO in 1904, too. At this time the word "parlor" meant that "it was not a full-service restaurant" [Woellert p. 23]. What the Kiradjieff brothers served were "coneys" (hot dogs) and:

" ... an Americanized version of a Greek stew ... with traditional Mediterranean spices like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg and added chili powder, along with other spices familiar to their Slavic Mediterranean upbringing, and called it chili, something easily recognized by Americans." [Woellert pp. 27-28; emphasis mine]

Today there are literally hundreds of Cincinnati-style chili restaurants around Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky; in a 2015 story Erik Zarnitz of television station WLWT estimated there were "over 200 chili restaurants in the Greater Cincinnati area alone."⁷ And there is a thriving industry shipping frozen Cincinnati chili around the world.

So all Cincinnati chili is made pretty much the same, right? I mean, Mr. Woellert listed the spices -- chili powder, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg -- and that's pretty much it, right?

Not quite. It's a little more complicated than that. When it comes to the ingredients (and especially when it comes to the spices) everybody does it differently. That's why people get in bitter quarrels about which of those 200-some restaurants does it best.

So what should go into Cincinnati chili? I decided to do a little research.

I should make it clear right now that: 1) There are lots more recipes out there; this is a preliminary survey, not a definitive study; 2) I excluded any recipe that included something other than beef as its main ingredient.

I realize that excluding non-beef options may seem arbitrary (especially since Woellert notes that "the original Greek stew ... was probably originally a lamb or goat stew" [Woellert p. 144]), but Cincinnati chili today is, kind of by definition, a beef dish. If you have a burning desire to make a lamb Cincinnati-style chili dish feel free (and there are recipes for it), but I'm not including that as one of the recipes here.

In any case, I chose what I think is a representative sample of the recipes that are out there.⁸ I recorded all of the ingredients listed and entered them into a Google Sheets spreadsheet. It isn't possible to embed a spreadsheet on this blog, but if you want to look at "The Great Cincinnati Chili Matrix of Ingredients" you can see it here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zHEHbOtWal_boIwxDmmq-sSer97rGv9SbdOPjIkaijk/edit?usp=sharing

The question I was interested in: What ingredients do these recipes have in common?

So here are the ingredients, sorted by the percent of recipes that include them:

• Cinnamon (100%)
• Chili powder (92%)
• Cumin (92%)
• Onions (92%)
• Allspice (85%)
• Chocolate/Cocoa powder (85%)
• Tomato Sauce (85%)
• Vinegar (85%)
• Bay Leaf (77%)
• Cloves (77%)
• Cayenne (70%)
• Garlic (70%)
• Oil (54%)
• Water (54%)
• Worcestershire Sauce (54%)
• Black pepper (38%)
• Tomatoes (31%)
• Beef stock/broth/bouillon (23%)
• Beans (15%)
• Garlic Powder (15%)
• Paprika (15%)

Singular ingredients (used in only one recipe):

• Vegetable juice/V8^TM
• Sugar
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Coriander
• Nutmeg
• Oregano
• Celery Seed

The only ingredient found in every single recipe is cinnamon. After that, it gets interesting.

Ninety-two percent of the recipes in my sample use chili powder. Good to know. But what exactly is "chili powder"? There are dozens, possibly hundreds of commercial chili powder blends.⁹ For heaven's sake, Pendery's (http://www.penderys.com/) alone offers at least fifteen different blends, including:

• Bo Prewitt
• Carol West
• Chiltomaline
• Colleen Wallace
• Dallas Dynamite
• Fire Hall
• Fort Worth Light
• New Mexico Light
• Original
• Salt Free
• San Antonio Red
• Santa Fe Red
• Terlingua Won
• Top Hat
• White

They aren't the same. And I think that's an issue.

Eighty-five percent of the recipes include chocolate. Chocolate (or cocoa powder) isn't all that unusual in Tex-Mex chilies nowadays (it gives it a slightly mole poblano flavor), but its inclusion in Cincinnati chili seems to be fairly new. And quite possibly a mistake. According to Woellert "there is no chili parlor in Cincinnati that uses chocolate in its chili. All say that this is a myth" [p. 141]. He blames the "myth" on a recipe published in the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1981 that included chocolate. He believes that the source of the "chocolateness" people think they're tasting may be red wine vinegar [p. 141] .

Only a little over half of the recipes include oil (sometimes olive oil is specified, sometimes not). That's because there's a school of thought that says Cincinnati chili should not be browned at all -- not the beef, not the onions, not anything.  Instead, everything should be slow simmered in water (or beef stock/broth/bouillon). If you're not browning, then there really isn't any need for oil.

Tomatoes vs. tomato sauce is an interesting area of disagreement. Eighty-five percent of the recipes use tomato sauce, but in 31% tomatoes (either chopped or canned, crushed tomatoes) are used.¹⁰ Many people believe bay leaf is crucial to Cincinnati chili, but in fact it's only used in 77% of the recipes. Others are equally insistent about Worcestershire sauce (only used in 54% of the recipes), beef stock/broth/bouillon  (only 23% of recipes) and garlic or garlic powder (combined, 85% of recipes -- which means 15% don't use any garlic at all).

Woellert talks at some length about the somewhat complicated spice philosophy of Cincinnati chili:

"The 'Holy Trinity' of Greek cooking includes nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves ... In addition to the spice trio in the Cincinnati chili sacred blend of spices, there are many more 'apostolous' or apostles that add up to what most chili parlors say is a total of eighteen different spices ... the 'sweet apostolous' -- like coriander, cardamom, anise, ginger and allspice ... But to balance and end on a spicy note Cincinnati chili also uses ... the 'spicy apostolous' -- like garlic, chili powder, paprika and cumin. Finally, there are two 'herby apostolous" -- oregano and thyme -- that add a savory balance between sweet and hot ... that give a layered taste sensation. This is a trick that comes from Mediterranean cuisine familiar to the Greek- and Slavic-Macedonian immigrants who ran Cincinnati-style chili parlors." [Woellert p. 142; emphasis mine]

He gives a slightly different list of "spicy apostolous" a few pages later:
"cumin, paprika, chili powder, turmeric, a bay leaf, garlic, black or white pepper, and celery seed or mustard seed" [p. 146; emphasis mine].

Woellert actually gives his own family's recipe for Cincinnati chili:

Flora's Cincinnati-style Chili

• 1 quart water
• 2 pounds ground chuck
• 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 2 large sweet onions, chopped finely
• 3 large bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper [presumably cayenne]
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, chopped

[Woellert p. 146]

There aren't 18 ingredients in this recipe (even counting the beef and the water). There certainly aren't 18 different spices. It uses tomato paste, which none of the other recipes I surveyed use. And despite the fact that Woellert specifically mentions nutmeg as an ingredient, only one of the surveyed recipes actually uses it -- even Woellert doesn't use nutmeg. Nor, despite his invocation of the various "apostles," does his recipe include coriander, cardamom, anise, ginger, paprika (unless that's what he means by "red pepper," which isn't likely), turmeric, celery seed, mustard seed, oregano or thyme.

And yet, I suspect it's probably pretty good.

Do names matter when it comes to food? Well, maybe. Were you devastated when you found out that "crying tiger" (Thai seua rong hai) contains no tiger? That Welsh rabbit has no rabbit? That head cheese isn't cheese? That sweetbreads aren't bread (or especially sweet)? That eggs creams contain neither eggs nor cream? That gunpowder tea contains no gunpowder? That bear claws have no claws? That ladyfingers have no fingers (and she's no lady)?

Probably not. You're not silly.

Cincinnati chili isn't chili con carne. That doesn't make it bad. Personally, I think it's delicious.¹¹ You can say you don't like it. That's valid. But screaming "it's not real chili!!!" is not compelling criticism.

Cincinnati chili is fascinating. It has an interesting and very American history -- a blending of immigrant traditions and adaptations. It's a true regional cuisine. And it's darned tasty.

If you can't accept it that because "that's not REAL chili!" perhaps the problem isn't with the name or the taste. Perhaps the problem is really with you.

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The Great Cincinnati Chili Matrix of Ingredients

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zHEHbOtWal_boIwxDmmq-sSer97rGv9SbdOPjIkaijk/edit?usp=sharing

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Notes

¹ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene 2.

² If it's spelled "chili" (at least in the US) it's a "a spicy stew containing chili peppers, meat (usually beef), and often tomatoes and beans. Other seasonings may include garlic,onions, and cumin" (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne). If it's spelled "chile" it's either the name of a member of the Capsicum family of peppers, or the name of the world's 38th largest country (and the 6th largest in South America). If it's spelled "chilli" you are probably in the UK. Welcome, friend!

³ And it's not. Right?

⁴ It is NOT a Mexican (or heaven help us Spanish) dish! It's Texan. Don't argue. You'll only embarrass yourself.

⁵ Mostly Texans, in my experience, I'm sorry to say. See also: http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/features/how-i-finally-learned-to-stop-whining-and-sort-of-tolerate-cincys-infamous-chili/.

⁶ Woellert, Dann. 2013. The Authentic History of Cincinnati Chili. Charleston SC: American Palate. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/AUTHENTIC-HISTORY-CINCINNATI-American-Palate/dp/1609499921 ; AbeBooks: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9781609499921&sts=t ; Powell's: http://www.powells.com/book/the-authentic-history-of-cincinnati-chili-9781609499921 ; Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-authentic-history-of-cincinnati-chili-dann-woellert/1114335150?ean=9781609499921

⁷ See: http://www.wlwt.com/news/wlwt-examines-cincinnati-style-chilis-history-on-national-chili-day/31506814

⁸You can see the individual recipes here:

• http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/dining/2016/02/25/cincinnati-chili-do-try-home/80924756/
• http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/cincinnati-chili-recipe
• http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Cincinnati-style-chili-Skyline-Chili/?ALLSTEPS
• http://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/praise-cincinnati-chili
• http://www.saveur.com/Cincinnati-Chili-recipe
• http://allrecipes.com/recipe/206953/authentic-cincinnati-chili/
• http://allrecipes.com/recipe/13157/cincinnati-chili-i/
• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/cincinnati-chili-recipe2.html
• http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/CincinnatiChili.htm
• http://www.food.com/recipe/skylike-chili-skyline-chili-copycat-110548
• https://www.pratesiliving.com/cincinnati-chili-mine-finally-tastes-like-skyline-chili/
• http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/cincinnati-chili-spaghetti-michael-symon
• http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Main-Dishes/Cincinnati-Chili

⁹ For a comparison of some different chili powder recipes you can see Appendix II of my cookbook -- which, delightfully, can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Boneless-Lean-NOT-FRIED-Recipes-ebook/dp/B01DPJU5VG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466650917&sr=1-1&keywords=boneless .

¹⁰ Yes, I know that 85% + 31% is more than 100%. There are recipes that use both tomato sauce and chopped or crushed tomatoes.

¹¹ I like both Skyline and Goldstar, but I haven't had a chance to try Camp Washington or Dixie yet. And everybody knows that the really great chili comes from dingy hole-in-the-wall places known only to locals and/or plump and smiling grandmothers, right?

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http://www.othodge.com/images/OTHmenu.pdf
http://www.taylorschili.com/reichmann.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_chili
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/45379

Three Little Words: An Update

He words me, girls, he words me

William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act 5, Scene 2

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Back on April 13th I wrote a post, "Three Little Words" about an intriguing company called what3words. In brief, what3words divides the entire world (including the oceans and ice caps) into 3 meter by 3 meter squares. An algorithm then assigns three random words to designate each square.

At the time I expressed some skepticism. I wasn't sure that this solved a problem. I admit, saying "planet.inches.most" is easier than saying 40.689266 -74.044511 (however you say it, it's the location of the Statue of Liberty). But I still have some concerns, including the fact that you can't perceive relationships ("maple.oddly.zips" is actually quite near "planet.inches.most," but you couldn't possibly know that just looking at the three words; in more conventional notation it's 40.712980 -74.013122 -- the site of the World Trade Center). If you're interested in more of my concerns just see the April 13th post.

Recently there was a story on National Public Radio. It seems that the nation of Mongolia has now adopted the what3words system of location designation for postal deliveries and emergency services.

Mongolia certainly faces some interesting challenges. It's the 19th largest country on earth, with an area of more than 1.5 million square kilometers (more than twice the size of Texas, nearly as large as Alaska), and it has a rather small population (about three million -- about the same as Mississippi). Much of the country is uninhabited, and many of people (around a third) are nomadic or semi-nomadic. Which makes finding them a little difficult.

So, using their smartphones -- and yes, most Mongolians do have cell phones* -- they can specify exactly where they are using just three words. So their mail can find them (and so can emergency services) out in the vast emptiness of the Gobi or wherever they are.

It certainly sounds good. And according to Rachel Martin's interview with Chris Sheldrick on Sunday, June 19th Mongolia will be adopting the system country-wide in July.**  If you go to the what3words website, you'll see that lots of emergency responders and e-commerce outfits and even taxi companies around the world are apparently using the service.

But I still have doubts. For one thing, what language will the three words be in? It's true that what3words is available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, and Turkish, as well as English. But not Mongolian.*** Russian is spoken in Mongolia, but is apparently in severe decline: "it is hard to find a Mongolian under 40 who speaks better than broken Russian."**** So are Mongolian nomads supposed to speak English well enough to use the system? Flawlessly?

And it still bothers me that you can't see the spatial relationships from the coordinates.

However, I am very pleased to say that I did find an online tool for converting from latitude-longitude to what3words and vice versa. It's here: Batch Conversion Tool (http://developer.what3words.com/batch-conversion-tool/). You can convert up to 100 coordinates at a time!

So -- we'll see. This may be the wave of the future. I'm still skeptical, but I'm willing to be persuaded.

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* The 2014 CIA estimate was 103 "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants," which may sound like a lot, but in fact Mongolia only ranks 139th in terms of mobile cellular subscribers (see: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2151rank.html#mg). One other point: It's not clear if these are all smartphones or not. If they're not, they can't run the algorithm.

** You can find the transcript of the NPR interview here: http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=482514949.

*** Interestingly, the three words are not translations. The Spanish version of the location of the Statue of Liberty (in English it's "planet.inches.most") is "tolerar.puntual.empanar" or "tolerate," "punctual," "tarnish."

**** James Brooke. For Mongolians, E is for English, F is for Future. New York Times, 15 Feb 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/world/asia/for-mongolians-e-is-for-english-f-is-for-future.html?_r=0).

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http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mongolias-new-address-system-gives-every-location-a-poetic-threeword-name
http://what3words.com/2015/08/un-asign/
http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=4010
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/19/482514949/welcome-to-mongolias-new-postal-system-an-atlas-of-random-words
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html

The Most Powerful Drug Used by Mankind

"I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."

Rudyard Kipling, "Surgeons and Soul," a speech given before the Royal College of Surgeons, February 1923. See: Kipling, Rudyard. 2007. A Book of Words. Rockville MD: Wildside Press.  See also http://www.telelib.com/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/BookOfWords/index.html.

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Back in 1971 there was an interesting story about a group of paleolithic people found living in the Philippines. They were called the Tasaday. Despite the fact that they were living quite close to a number of other tribes, it was stated that they were completely ignorant  of many of the things that their neighbors were doing, including agriculture. Recent research makes it pretty clear that the Tasaday weren't quite what they first appeared to be. It seems likely they are the descendants of local tribespeople who fled into the jungle over the last couple of centuries (probably to escape slavery).

What makes them relevant just now is one of the pieces of evidence that was put forward to make the case that these were genuinely paleolithic people. It was alleged that their language had no agricultural metaphors (see http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-08/local/me-63_1_stone-age).

English, or course, is full of agricultural metaphors. We broadcast; we reap what we sow; sometimes we have a hard row to hoe. If the Tasaday language really had no metaphors or idioms or expressions related to agriculture or farming that would be pretty good evidence - not proof, but evidence - that we had actually found  people who had successfully avoided their neighbors for something like 10,000 years. And that would be amazing.

But as I said before, recent research has fairly conclusively shown that the Tasaday aren't paleolithic survivals.  They do interact (and even intermarry) with their neighbors. And even if they don't raise crops (they're hunters and gatherers), they certainly understand the concept of agriculture. So not so amazing.

Idioms and metaphors can reveal a lot. Not just about a language, but about the culture and the environment where that language developed.  Historical linguists make connections among languages based on the words and concepts they have in common. For example, all of the most ancient Indo-European languages have similar words for "grain," "plow," "milk," "honey," "salt," "oak," "nut," "birch," "grass" and "snow." They don't have common terms for things like "banana," "bamboo," or "monkey." Exactly where proto-Indo-European originated is a subject of fierce debate - the two largest factions are the partisans of the  "Kurgan" hypothesis (which puts the area of origin north of the Caspian Sea) and the Anatolian hypothesis (which puts the area of origin in Anatolia).

English as it's spoken today tells us a lot about the things that have been shaping our culture. Of course we have a huge vocabulary related to our technology ("It's not rocket science!"), but what's striking to me is how much of our language is derived from games and sports.

Name a sport and we've got an idiom based on it. We "kick off" a meeting, we "hit the bull's eye" when we're clever, we "bat a thousand" and it's a "slam dunk" when we get everything right. Of course, sometimes we're "behind the eight ball" and "down for the count." But as long as we're "up to par" and "don't back the wrong horse," we will probably "have the inside track" and be "safe at home."

I suppose it's not surprising that popular sports and games - football, baseball, basketball, billiards, boxing, golf, even horse racing - affect our language. But sports that are obscure to the point of near-invisibility can still have a remarkable influence on our day-to-day speech. Case in point: falconry.

Falconry ("hawking" is an acceptable synonym) is an ancient activity. The best evidence indicates it's at least 4,000 years old and probably began in the Middle East or Central Asia. Falconry was a status symbol from Europe to Mongolia, and the nobility devoted ridiculous amounts of time and money to it.

In 1486 the "Book of St. Albans," probably written by Julia Berners, Prioress of the Priory of St. Mary of Sopwell in Hertfordshire, England, specified a hierarchy of hawks and the social ranks of those who were permitted to use them:

• Emperor: Eagle, vulture, and merlin
• King: Gyr falcon and the tercel of the gyr falcon
• Prince: Falcon gentle and the tercel gentle
• Duke: Falcon of the loch
• Earl: Peregrine falcon
• Baron: Bustard
• Knight: Sacre and the sacret
• Esquire: Lanere and the laneret
• Lady: Marlyon
• Young man: Hobby
• Yeoman: Goshawk
• Poor man: Tercel
• Priest: Sparrowhawk
• Holy water clerk: Musket
• Knave or servant: Kestrel

Modern falconers have a lot of problems with this list. Among the issues: Nobody goes hawking with a vulture; The word "bustard" is probably wrong, and some think it may have meant "bastard hawk" - that is, a hawk of unknown lineage; "Poor man" probably means "small landowner"; Sakers ("sacres," Falco cherrug) were never native to England, and while they could be imported, they would have been expensive, and not likely affordable by a mere knight; A "tercel" is simply a male falcon of whatever species, not a particular kind of bird; A "merlin" and a "marlyon" are the same thing, Falco columbarius; The "falcon gentle," "falcon of the loch" and the "peregrine falcon" are also all the same species, Falco peregrinus; A "musket" is just a male sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus.

In any case, although falconry is still around, it isn't widely practiced in North America or Europe (although it is still moderately popular in parts of the Middle East). The largest falconry organization in North America is the North American Falconers Association, with 2,000 members.

But even if it's not widely practiced these days, falconry is still a part of our language. A few examples*:

• Callow: From an Old English word for "bald," but in the sense of "unfledged"; basically a young and inexperienced bird.
• Chaperone: From the Old French chaperon meaning "hood" or "cowl," in the sense of  a "protector."
• Hoodwinked: Falcons' heads are covered with a hood when they're being transported to keep them calm (they won't fly or attack when they're blindfolded).
• Codger: A "cadge" was a kind of perch or frame on which hawks were transported, and the person who carried the frame would be a "cadger" or "codger."
• Fed-up: When a hawk has eaten its fill its crop is full and it won't hunt.
• Gorge: To stuff with food (the word "gorge" is related to "gullet").
• Haggard: An untamed hawk, captured as an adult, often at the end of a migration when they were exhausted.
• With bated breath: From "abated," when a hawk is tethered or restrained.
• Wrapped around your finger: A hawk's leash or "jess" can be wrapped around a finger to keep it under control.

We might also add "hawk" in the sense of "sell" - supposedly from the cries of hawks and the cries of itinerant peddlers. And though all the etymologists are happy saying "hobby" comes from "hobby horse" (a small horse-like figure used on stage or in Morris dancing - but the term is also used for toys, and confusingly to refer to small breeds of horse, merry-go-round horses, and a device used in jousting), the word "hobby" also refers to several small species of falcon (Falco subbuteo, F. cuvierii, F. severus and F. longipennis) used by young falconers, and I can't help but wonder if that might have contributed to its current meaning.

Most of us have never gone hawking. Most of us never will go hawking. But the idioms and metaphors of falconry are embedded in our language, and they show how important it once was. There are fossils in our language, and digging can sometimes produce some interesting insights about where we've come from.

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* A word of warning: All of these etymologies are disputed. Don't get into arguments about them - etymologists can be mean.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasaday_people
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reid/Combined%20Files/A42.%201997.%20Tasaday%20Linguistic%20Archaeology--rev%2011-07-09.pdf
http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_stone-age_tasaday
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-08/local/me-63_1_stone-age

http://www.idiomconnection.com/sports.html

http://listverse.com/2012/06/09/10-words-of-phrases-derived-from-falconry/
http://knowledgestew.com/2015/03/modern-sayings-that-came-from-falconry.html
http://www.wingspan.co.nz/falconry_language.html
http://www.themodernapprentice.com/glossary.htm
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/under-the-thumb.html
http://www.islamunraveled.org/islam-myths/animals-arts/traineddogsandfalcons.php
http://www.n-a-f-a.com/?page=AboutNAFA

There's an App for That

There will come a day when the passage of time and the efforts of a longer stretch of human history will bring to light things that are now obscure.

Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 4 BC - 65 AD). 2014. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Harry M. Hine, translator. University of Chicago Press, p. 130.

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You hold in your hand -- or maybe near your hand (depending on what device you're using to read this) -- a powerful computer. Today's smartphones are mind-bogglingly powerful. It's become a cliche to say that your phone has more computing power than all of the computers that sent human beings to the moon (one estimate: 120,000,000 times more powerful).* Most of us don't really use very much of that computing power. And that's kind of a shame. Because smartphones can be used for considerably more than their usual occupations (top uses: social media, watching movies, games, maps, mail and music).** Smartphones can be used for genuine scientific research.

A lot of that research is in the social sciences and psychology -- for example, sites like SurveySignal (http://www.surveysignal.com/) can be used for surveys on things like "happiness," and CarbonSix (http://c6research.com/field-notes/25-field-notes-ots) has an app designed for ethnographic research. Polldaddy (https://polldaddy.com/) can be used to create and distribute simple surveys. And of course there are many apps for business and market research (for a discussion of four relevant apps see https://www.marketstrategies.com/blog/2015/06/the-smartphone-revolution-four-capabilities-you-need-in-your-market-research/).

Smartphones are also being increasingly used for medical research. For example, in 2015 Apple released five apps to study asthma, breast cancer, heart disease, and Parkinson's disease. These apps can be used to study both subjective and objective characteristics (both "how are you feeling" questions and tests of manual or mental dexterity, for example). And health, fitness and diet are huge areas for research.

But what I've found intriguing recently is the idea of using smartphone apps in physical science research:

• Earthquakes
• The newly released MyShake (http://myshake.berkeley.edu/) lets your phone become an earthquake detector.
• Weather and Agriculture
• mPing (http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/ping/) records and transmits precipitation data.
• CliMate (https://grdc.com.au/Research-and-Development/GRDC-Update-Papers/2013/03/CliMate-a-smart-phone-App-for-farmers), Fieldview (https://www.climate.com/) and LandPKS (http://landpotential.org/) have apps for farming and agricultural research.
• Environment and Pollution
• Secchi (http://www.secchidisk.org/) is an app for recording water clarity (and phytoplankton abundance).
• What's Invasive (http://whatsinvasive.com/), IveGot1 (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ivegot1-identify-report-invasive/id381326170), the Mid-Atlantic Early Detection Network (http://www.eddmaps.org/midatlantic/), EDDMapS West (http://www.eddmaps.org/mrwc/) and Outsmart Invasive Species (http://masswoods.net/outsmart) all let people report on invasive species.
• Loss of the Night (http://cosalux.de/#/en/portfolio-en/loss-of-the-night-android-app/) lets you report on light pollution.
• Marine Debris Tracker (http://www.marinedebris.engr.uga.edu/) lets mariners and beachcombers report on debris at sea or shore (there are multiple categories or debris, like bottles, clothing, etc.) Creek Watch (http://www.scientificamerican.com/citizen-science/project.cfm?id=creek-watch) is a similar app for rivers and lakes.
• NoiseTube (http://www.noisetube.net/#&panel1-1) can be used to monitor and collect data on noise pollution.
• Visibility (http://robotics.usc.edu/~mobilesensing/Projects/AirVisibilityMonitoring) can be used to monitor particulate air pollution. A similar app (that requires a separate device) is iSPEX (http://ispex-eu.org/about-ispex/ispex-app/).

As Mark Stern wrote in an article for Slate, "Smartphones have changed the way we communicate, the way we navigate, even the way we think."*** And perhaps how we study the world around us (see ).

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* http://www.zmescience.com/research/technology/smartphone-power-compared-to-apollo-432/
** https://bgr.com/2016/02/04/most-popular-smartphone-apps-facebook-google/
*** Mark Joseph Stern, "Weight, Watched." Slate. November 11, 2013: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/11/smartphone_diet_apps_are_they_helping_us_lose_weight.html

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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/8-apps-that-turn-citizens-into-scientists/
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2015/07/28/smartphones-become-new-tool-for-medical-research-with-new-apps/
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-app-puts-earthquake-detector-your-pocket?mode=topic&context=60&tgt=nr
http://qrj.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/07/31/1468794115593335.abstract

Our Many "Capitals"

"A nickname is the hardest stone that the devil can throw at a man."
William Hazlitt, "On Nicknames," in Sketches and Essays, John Templeman: London, 1839, p. 222.

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In George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London" he mentions that London's nickname among the tramps is "Smoke" (considering the heavy coal-laden air, a very appropriate name). Anybody who's been within 20,000 miles of it knows that New York is "The Big Apple" (it's generally believed that this expression comes from 1920s horseracing slang). Baltimore decided that “Bodymore, Murderland” wasn’t exactly good for tourism, so an advertising campaign was launched: it’s now officially “Charm City.” And San Diego acquired its idiotic nickname “America’s Finest City” because the mayor, the smarmy Pete Wilson, was trying to lure the Republican Party to San Diego for their 1972 convention (it didn’t work -- they went to Miami).

But just about every city, town, and disused railroad crossing in the US seems to have a nickname. Some are reasonable. Some are idiotic. Some are weird. And a truly amazing number involve claiming to be the "capital" of something or other (for example Decatur AL has proclaimed itself "Wave Pool Capital of the World," Davis CA is the "Bicycle Capital of the World," and both Lexington KY and Ocala FL claim to be "Horse Capital of the World").

Here are some "capitals" focused on food and drink*:

• Almonds
• Chico CA: Almond Capital of the World
• Ripon CA: City of Almonds
• Sacramento CA: Almond Capital of the World
• Apples
• Belding MI: Apple Capital
• Gays Mills WI: The Apple Capital of Wisconsin
• Wenatchee WA: Apple Capital of the World
• Winchester VA: Apple Capital of the World
• Apricots
• Patterson CA: Apricot Capital of the World
• Artichokes
• Castroville CA: Artichoke Center of the World
• Asparagus
• Isleton CA: Asparagus Capital of the World
• Avocadoes
• Fallbrook CA: Avocado Capital of the World
• Bagels
• Mattoon IL: Bagel Capital of the World
• Beans and Peas
• Athens TX: Blackeyed Pea Capital of the World
• Boston MA: Beantown
• Dove Creek CO: Pinto Bean Capital of the World
• Lima OH: BeanTown (Lima Bean)
• Oxnard CA: Lima Bean Capital of the World
• Pullman WA: Lentil Capital
• Berries (also see strawberries below)
• Cherryfield ME: Blueberry Capital of the World.
• Hammonton NJ: Blueberry Capital of the World
• Jay OK: Huckleberry Capital of the World
• McCloud CA: Blackberry Capital of the World  
• Paradise MI: Wild Blueberry Capital of Michigan
• South Haven MI: Blueberry Capital of the World
• Bourbon
• Bardstown KY: Bourbon Capital of the World
• Broccoli
• Greenfield CA: Broccoli Capital of the World
• Butter
• Reedsburg WI: Butter Capital of America
• Carrots
• Holtville CA: The Carrot Capital of the World
• Celery
• Arvada CO: Celery Capital of the World
• Kalamazoo MI: Celery City
• Cheese
• Colby WI: Home of Colby Cheese
• Ellsworth WI: Cheese Curd Capital of Wisconsin
• Monroe WI: Swiss Cheese Capital of the USA
• Cherries
• Linden CA: Cherry Capital of the World
• Salem OR: The Cherry City
• Traverse City MI: Cherry Capital of the World  
• Chile Peppers and Chili
• Hatch NM: Chile Pepper Capital of the World  
• Terlingua TX: Chili Capital of the World
• Chocolate
• Burlington WI: Chocolate City, USA
• Hershey PA: Chocolate Capital of the World.
• Citrus Fruit (also see grapefruit, oranges below)
• Santa Paula CA: Citrus Capital of the World
• Coffee
• Seattle WA: Coffee Capital of the World
• Corn
• Deshler OH: Corn City
• Hurley NY: Sweet Corn Capital of the World
• Toledo OH: Corn City
• Crabs and Crabcakes
• Annapolis MD: Crabtown
• Baltimore MD: Crab Cake Capital of the World
• Newport OR: The Dungeness Crab Capital of the World
• Cranberries
• Babcock WI: The Cranberry Pie Capital
• Eagle River WI: Wisconsin's Cranberry Country
• Tomah WI: Gateway to Cranberry Country
• Warrens WI: The Cranberry Capital of Wisconsin
• Whitefish Point MI: Cranberry Capital of Michigan
• Crawfish
• Breaux Bridge LA: Crawfish Capital of the World
• Mauriceville TX: Crawfish Capital of Texas
• Cucumber
• Boyceville WI: Cucumber Capital of Wisconsin
• Dates
• Indio CA: Date Capital of the World  
• Eggs
• Petaluma CA: Egg Basket of the World
• Flour
• Buffalo NY: Flour City
• Madison WI: Flour City
• Minneapolis MN: City of Flour and Sawdust/Mill City
• Garlic
• Gilroy CA: Garlic Capital of the World
• Grapes and Grapejuice
• Lodi CA: Tokay Grape Capital of the World
• Westfield NY: Grape Juice Capital of the World
• Grapefruit
• Mission TX: Home of the Ruby Red Grapefruit
• Grits
• Warwick: The Grits Capital of Georgia/The Grits Capital of the World
• Guava
• Tampa FL: The Big Guava
• Hamburgers
• El Reno OK: The Onion Fried Burger Capital of the World
• Friona TX: Cheeseburger Capital of Texas
• Seymour WI: Home of the Hamburger
• Herbs (also see mint below)
• Gahanna OH: Ohio’s Herb Capital
• Honey
• Randolph NE: Honey Capital of the Nation
• Horseradish
• Collinsville IL: Horseradish Capital of the World  
• Eau Claire WI:Horseradish Capital of the World
• Gilroy CA: Horseradish Capital of the World
• Tulelake CA: Horseradish Capital of the World
• Ice Cream
• Le Mars IA: Ice Cream Capital of the World  
• Kiwi Fruit
• Gridley CA: Kiwi Fruit Capital of the World
• Lettuce
• Salinas CA: Lettuce Capital of the World  
• Lobster
• Rockland ME: Lobster Capital of the World.  
• Mayhaw (fruits of either Crataegus aestivalis or C. opaca)
• Colquitt GA: Mayhaw Capital of the World
• Melon (also see Watermelon below)
• Thomson IL: The Melon Capital of the World
• Mint (and peppermint)
• Mishawaka IN: Peppermint Capital of the World
• Saint Johns MI: The Mint City
• Mushrooms
• Madisonville TX: Mushroom Capital of Texas
• Mesick MI: Mushroom Capital of the World
• Muscoda WI: Morel Mushroom Capital of Wisconsin
• Utica MI: Mushroom Capital of Michigan
• Oats
• Bertram TX: Home of the Oatmeal Festival
• Olives
• Corning CA: Olive City
• Onions
• Elba NY: Onion Capital of the World
• Florida NY: The Onion Capital of the World
• Pine Island NY: Onion Capital of the World
• Vidalia GA: Sweet Onion Capital of the World
• Winooski VT: The Onion City
• Oranges
• Los Angeles CA: The Big Orange
• Pancakes
• Glenn MI: The Pancake Town
• Hawkins TX: Pancake Capital of Texas
• Peaches
• Atlanta GA: The Big Peach
• Fort Valley GA: Peach Capital of Georgia
• Haysville KS: Peach Capital of Kansas
• Nashville AR: Peach Capital
• Palisade CO: Peach Capital of Colorado
• Weatherford TX: Peach Capital of Texas
• Peanuts
• Allentown PA: Peanut City
• Ashburn GA: Peanut Capital of the World
• Blakely GA: Peanut Capital of the World
• Dawson GA: Spanish Peanut Capital of the World
• Floresville TX: Peanut Capital of Texas
• Sylvester GA: Peanut Capital of the World
• Pears
• Kelseyville CA: Pear Capital of the World
• Rogue River Valley OR: Pear Capital of the World
• Pineapple
• Honolulu HI: The Big Pineapple
• Popcorn
• Marion OH: World's Popcorn Capital
• North Loup NE: Popcorn Capital
• Van Buren IN– Popcorn Capital of the World
• Pork
• Cincinnati OH: Porkopolis
• Potatoes
• Blackfoot ID: Potato Capital of the World
• Clark SD: Potato Capital of South Dakota
• Hoople ND: Tater Town
• Pretzels
• Freeport IL: Pretzel City, USA
• Reading PA: Pretzel Capital of the World
• Prunes
• Yuba City CA: Prune Capital
• Pumpkin
• Floydada TX: Pumpkin Capital
• Half Moon Bay CA: Pumpkin Capital
• Morton IL: Pumpkin Capital of the World
• Radishes
• Long Beach MS: Radish Capital of the World
• Raisins
• Dinuba CA: Raisinland, USA
• Selma CA: Raisin Capital of the World
• Rhubarb
• Sumner WA: Rhubarb Pie Capital
• Utica NY: Hothouse Rhubarb Capital of the World
• Rice
• Stuttgart AR: Rice and Duck Capital of the World
• Root Beer
• Gulfport MS: Root Beer Capital of the World
• Rutabaga
• Cumberland WI: Rutabaga Capital
• Sauerkraut
• Phelps NY: Sauerkraut Capital
• Sausages
• Bucyrus OH: Bratwurst Capital of the World
• Chicopee MA: Kielbasa Capital of the World
• Elgin TX: Sausage Capital of Texas
• Eustis NE: Sausage Capital of Nebraska
• Sheboygan WI: Bratwurst Capital of the World  
• Soybeans
• Decatur IL: Soy Capital of the World
• Spam
• Austin MN: Spamtown USA
• Spinach
• Alma AR: Spinach Capital of the World
• Lenexa KS: Spinach Capital
• Steak
• Lincoln NE: Steak Capital of the World
• Strawberries
• Chadbourn NC: Strawberry Capital of the World
• Garden Grove CA: Big Strawberry
• Marysville WA: The Strawberry City
• Oxnard CA: Strawberry Capital of the World
• Plant City FL: Strawberry Capital of the World/Winter Strawberry Capital of the World
• Ponchatoula LA: Strawberry Capital of the World
• Stilwell: Strawberry Capital
• Watsonville CA: Strawberry Capital of the World
• Tomatoes
• Green Forest AR: Tomato Capital
• Jacksonville TX: Tomato Capital of the World
• Reynoldsburg OH: Birthplace of the Tomato
• Sacramento CA: The Big Tomato/ “Sacratomato”
• Slocomb AL:: The Tomato Capital of the South
• Turkey
• Barron WI: Turkey Capital of Wisconsin
• Berryville AR: Turkey Capital
• Cuero TX: Turkey Capital of the World
• North Andover MA: Turkey Town
• Worthington MN: Turkey Capital of the World
• Watermelon
• Hope AR: Watermelon Capital of the World
• Cordele GA: Watermelon Capital of the World
• Rush Springs OK: Watermelon Capital of the World
• Knox City: Seedless Watermelon Capital of Texas
• Naples TX: The Watermelon Capital of The World
• Beardstown IL: Watermelon Capital
• Green River UT: The World's Watermelon Capital

There are also some, so to speak, “collective food” and "specialty food" capitals:

• Battle Creek MI: Breakfast Capital of the World
• Berrien Springs MI: Christmas Pickle Capital of the World
• Braham MN: Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota
• Briston TN: Food City
• Calabash NC: Seafood Capital of the World
• Chillicothe MO: Home of Sliced Bread
• Claxton GA: Fruitcake Capital of the World
• Corsicana TX: Fruit Cake Capital of the World
• Crisfield: Seafood Capital of the World
• Denison TX: Wine Root Stock Capital of the World
• Fremont: Baby Food Capital of the World
• Gainesville GA: Poultry Capital of the World
• Gonzales LA: Jambalaya Capital of the World
• Grand Junction CO: Colorado's Wine Country
• Hastings NE: Birthplace of Kool-Aid
• Kingston NY: Breadbasket of the Revolution
• Lecompte LA: Pie Capital of Louisiana
• Muskegon MI: Beer Tent Capital of the World
• Pittsburg KS: Fried Chicken Capital
• Reedley CA: The World's Fruit Basket
• Roanoke TX: The Unique Dining Capital of Texas
• Sheboygan WI: The City of Cheese, Chairs, and Children
• Windom KS: Covered Dish Capital of the World

And finally, there is BARBECUE:

• Kansas City MO: BBQ Capital of the World
• Lockhart TX: Barbecue Capital of Texas
• Memphis TN: Barbecued Pork Capital of the World
• Owensboro KY: Barbecued Mutton Capital of the World
• Peru IN: Barbecue City

Now, in perusing this list there are some questions that come to mind:

• Who came up with this idea? Who decided that the way to put your town on the map (so to speak) was to make it the “Dandelion Green Capital of the Universe?”**
• Is there conflict over these claims? Do Beardstown IL, Green River UT, Hope AR, Cordele GA, Rush Springs OK, Knox City TX,  and Naples TX get into angry shouting matches over who has the right to claim they are the real “Watermelon Capital?”
• Do these places actually eat what they produce? Do they even actually produce what they proclaim (Seattle may brew coffee, but it certainly doesn't grow it)? I know all the barbecue “capitals” have an assortment of restaurants, but do the others? Does Holtville CA have a tradition of carrot cuisine? Does the place that grows kiwi fruit (Lodi CA) have some sort of kiwi restaurant row?
• California, Texas and Wisconsin really seem to dominate this list. Why? Why not New Jersey (“The Garden State”) or Washington ("The Evergreen State")?

I'm sure I'll be returning to this topic again, but I think this is enough for now.

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*I had to make some judgement calls. There are a lot of places that claim to be, for example, “Trout Capitals” or “Salmon Capitals” or even “Crappie Capitals” (that’s Cedar Bluff AL, if you’re curious), but I’m not really sure if they’re focusing on food or sport (I’m assuming catching crappie constitutes a sport), so I didn’t include them. If you disagree, make your own list.
** Vineland NJ says it’s the “Dandelion Capital of the World,” but I’m not sure whether they’re focused on edible greens or lawns.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_nicknames_in_the_United_States
http://got.net/~landauer/lists/CityOf.html
https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/popular-us-city-nickname-origins
http://www.triviaasylum.com/lists/cities.html