Groundhog Day

[a non-amos]

Here in the US, today is Groundhog Day.

At work, my supervisor is in the UK.  He knew what a groundhog is, in general terms, but he knew nothing about the event.  He does know that I have a sense of humor, so he assumed that I was making this up "off the cuff".

I told him that if the groundhog sees his shadow on this day, it means we will have another 6 weeks of winter.  If he does not see his shadow, it means an early spring.  I also told him that there was one particular groundhog on which this prediction is based.  This groundhog lives in the town of Punxsutawney, in Pennsylvania, and that his name is Punxsutawney Phil.

He thought I was making this up.  Quite frankly, if I were going to make up something like this I would try to make it more believable.  This is too strange to be false.

Of course, I also had to make a joke of it.  For the past several years our family has had a traditional food for Groundhog Day.  This is, of course, pork sausage.  This is a hog that has been through a meat grinder, thus ground hog.  For the last several years I have made it a practice to bring sausage biscuits to work on 2 Feb.  The general consensus has been that this was quite literally a delicious pun.

I'm sorry, but the word "biscuit" does not translate very well.  It means something entirely different in the UK, and I have no idea what it means in Australia.  Maybe Alan can help?

We also have some vegetarians at our site.  Over the years I have tried to good by them, but this might be the first year I succeeded.  When I called in the order I told them to prepare a few egg and cheese biscuits separately, told them that these were for strict vegetarians, and told them to wash their hands and their work space and package these separately.

- A

[pat]

'Egg biscuits' sounds quite comical to someone in the UK. Biscuits, to us, are what you in the US would call cookies.

If your biscuits are like very small loaves that you cut in half, butter and then add a filling, we would call them rolls. Having said that, rolls would generally be oval in shape; if they're round we would likely call them baps.

Another peculiarity: we might have egg rolls, cheese rolls, egg and tomato rolls etc., but sausage rolls are something completely different. A sausage roll would typically be a cooked item consisting of sausage meat encased in a rather greasy flaky pastry. Ugh.
 
This of course is from my part of the country (the Midlands). I don't doubt that people in other parts have different names.

[mkenuk]

'Groundhog Day' is also (imho) one of the best American comedy films of the last fifty years, starring one of the best American comedy actors of the last fifty years - Bill Murray.

I am also , thanks to the film, able to pronounce the name of the town where it all happens. Can't spell it though.

MK

[cmh]

Other English names for rolls and baps include flat cakes, stotties , tea cakes, balm cakes and those are only the ones I have come across in the north of England!
Unlike Pat I have to confess to a big weakness for an English sausage roll especially with Brown Sauce.I expect that is something peculiar to the UK too (possibly exported as a concept to Australia?) unlike Ketchup which I believe is more widely used. Or am I wrong about that?

[rogue_mother]

In the United States, rolls refer strictly to single-portion yeast breads, whereas biscuits have no yeast, nor do they contain eggs. They rely on baking powder, baking soda and milk or buttermilk for their rise and texture. I imagine that the egg and cheese biscuits that A referred to are either sandwiches made from sliced biscuits with cheese and cooked egg filling, or biscuits in which grated cheese and bits of cooked egg were incorporated into the batter before baking.

According to Wikipedia, Groundhog Day stems from an old German custom for which the American groundhog replaces a European badger. Groundhog Day coincides with the European Christian feast of Candlemas. Apparently in parts of England and Scotland, the weather on Candlemas has been used to predict the length of the winter, even if an animal is not involved.

[emiaco]

I've always thought that American biscuits were like our scones - flour, butter and milk? Is that correct? In Australia rolls are also single portion yeast breads. We have sausage rolls here the same as in England but we eat ours with tomato sauce (ketchup) or in Aussie rhyming slang "dead horse". I have never heard of Brown Sauce cmh, what sort of flavour does it have? I am also a big fan of the Groundhog Day film and like mkenuk am familiar with the pronunciation of the town's name because of that. On a slightly side issue, can anyone tell me what is the origin of the unique sounding town and city names in that part of America?

[cmh]

How to describe the flavour of Brown Sauce??? Sort of spicy but with the edge taken off by the use of sweeter ingredients too (like dates for instance). Some are a bit too vinegary for me. My favourite is hard to come by as the firm went out of production years ago after the inevitable take over scenario. It is called Hammonds Chop Sauce. The firm had an in house Brass Band  which still survives and as far as I know is still one of the premier Brass Bands in the country. Again I don't know how widely that music genre is known but a number of years ago I had a young Japanese visitor who found this traditional (mainly Northern English) music fascinating when we happened upon an outdoor performance in a traditional park band stand.
My Dad always referred to sauce as dead horse too!!

[emiaco]

Thanks cmh, sounds like HP sauce? I love brass band music, and I love that there are still in house bands in the UK! A very dear friend of mine is a trumpet player and has played in and conducted brass bands for years. At one stage I was somewhat of a groupie, a few of us used to travel several hours into the country to hear the bands play. There are a number of brass bands in our area that often turn out for local festivals or Christmas celebrations and I always stop to listen. A lot of people would be familiar with the genre from the movie Brassed Off. Even after all the years since the movie was released The Grimethorpe Colliery band always gets a good turnout when they tour Australia, I'm fairly certain they were here in the last year or so.

[rogue_mother]

I've always thought that American biscuits were like our scones - flour, butter and milk? Is that correct? In Australia rolls are also single portion yeast breads. ... On a slightly side issue, can anyone tell me what is the origin of the unique sounding town and city names in that part of America?

Your comparison of scones to American biscuits is very apt, except for the shape and the fact that biscuits are not sweet and usually do not have any additions such as currants or whatever.

The unusual town and city names that you ask about are generally English attempts at phonetic spelling of Native American place names. Punxsutawney is an example of this. Sometimes they are a combination of a Native American word with something more familiar -- such as Minneapolis. There are (or were) hundreds of Native American languages and dialects, so there is great variation among these names.

[Hobbit]

Emiaco I love the filmed Brassed Off.  Brilliant That got me thinking about Terry Wogan (RIP very funny man) and the Floral Dance and I can't for the life of me remember the name of the band that accompanied him.

[emiaco]

Thanks rogue mother, you've cleared up two things I've wondered about sometimes! Scones are not sweet in themselves, the topping is what makes them a sweet treat, usually jam and cream. Although I have made lemonade scones using flour, lemonade (the carbonated kind - like Sprite or 7 up) and cream and they have a lovely subtle, lemony sweetness to them, and as you say, you can add dried fruit to them as well.  

Hobbit, being an Australian my familiarity with Terry Wogan is mostly through his very funny commentary on the Eurovision song contest. The channel that hosts it here showed the contest one year with a local commentator and received so many complaints from viewers that they had to show it again it with Wogan's commentary. I remember laughing so hard I could barely breathe one year. I was very sad to hear of his recent death. I don't know the Floral Dance, I must look it up.  

[Dragonman]

The band in question is ( I think ) The Brighouse ans Rastric Brass band..but I am ready to be corrected


Dragonman

[pat]

Nearly right, Dragonman. It's Rastrick.

Here's a youtube link to them playing the floral dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QLOBtR2tQ0

Ironically it's the piece they're best known for but for them to play it is almost an insult to their capabilities!

[Linda]

Loved Terry Wogan and loved his version of The Floral Dance.  He will be missed.

[mkenuk]

Sorry to be pedantic, but the band which played on the Terry Wogan Version of 'Floral Dance' was the Hanwell Band from Hanwell in North London.

Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band had already had a huge hit with a purely instrumental version in 1977, but the earliest recording of the song was actually by an Australian named Peter Dawson in 1912.

Most of the music on 'Brassed Off' was by another northern band, Grimethorpe Colliery.

My fondest memory of Terry Wogan was the love/hate relationship he had towards 'Dallas', his lilting Irish brogue apparently mocking the more quirky features of the plot, while at the same time making sure you watched the next episode. He was a master of the art of broadcasting. RIP indeed.

MK