It's a Beatrice thing. When Beatrice is very, very happy, there's a little dance she does. It's not deliberate as far as I can see, she just has to start dancing.
It gets its name from the fact that giving her a muffin is the most reliable way to provoke it !
If the answer has to be one of those two, then "American". But really both uses are validly English - I remember commenting to Dawn only a couple of weeks ago on the horrific overloading ("They're both food items !").
I think it may be a generational thing. To me a muffin is a spongey mini-cake in a paper case. To my parents it's a round teacake for toasting. Therefore the English/American question becomes relevant whenever they offer me a 'muffin'.
But I'd be happy to see all English muffins reclassified as teacakes. Perhaps the EU might be able to do something about it.
One is cooked in an oven like a bun and has fruit in it (genuine teacake) and the other is cooked on a griddle and has not fruit in it (your fake muffinteacake).
Ohhh, y'see I didn't know that about your actual bunly teacakes. Muffins (english) are also presented as teacakes in the states. (Still giggling about Not Fruit as a filling).
Perhaps there should be a Spotters Guide to teatime products? With pictures and diagrams?
Hm. I'd be in favour of the other way around. Since muffins (the flat ones) can easily be used as savoury items in much the same way as bagels can, I'd say calling them 'teacakes' would be insane. The spongey-obviously-a-cake-cos-it's-always-sweet product shouldn't get a new category when it's nothing more than a fairy cake with pretensions.
Ah, y'see I agree with the first but not the second.
Muffins make excellent savory items. If only ****ing Tesco would stock the wholemeal ones more reliably they'd probably be a staple of my diet.
Muffins, on the other hand, are nothing like fairy cakes. A good muffin is much moister and more crumbly than a fairly cake and has a clearly defined crust on the part of it that emerges from the case. Muffins are a staple of my diet[1] in exactly the way that fairy cakes aren't.
[1] I was reading a very rude article about obesity in America which contained the line "a muffin the size of a softball is not a suitable breakfast". This struck me as a fine idea (or rather the exact reverse), so I now make a point of seeking out extra large double-chocolate muffins. For breakfast, where possible !
A fairy cake has a flat top (at the level of the paper case), icing and a crystalised fruit on top. A muffin (sweet) has a rounded top which should overflow the top edge of the paper case, may or may not be iced and has sprinkles or chips on the top but never IMXP crystallised fruit.
Okay, I'm on thin ice(ing) here. I always thought that using 'muffin' to refer to a sweet crumbly product was because the americans didn't have a proper word for 'cupcake'...
Noo!! Cupcakes are those weird fairycake things with horribly sickly sweet thin fake chocolate icing that used to give me nightmares as a kid. They came from Sainsbury's in packs of six and were pur evil.....
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 02:32 pm (UTC)As in "have you seen the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man?"?
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 02:38 pm (UTC)It's a Beatrice thing. When Beatrice is very, very happy, there's a little dance she does. It's not deliberate as far as I can see, she just has to start dancing.
It gets its name from the fact that giving her a muffin is the most reliable way to provoke it !
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 03:33 pm (UTC)But I'd be happy to see all English muffins reclassified as teacakes. Perhaps the EU might be able to do something about it.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 03:49 pm (UTC)One is cooked in an oven like a bun and has fruit in it (genuine teacake) and the other is cooked on a griddle and has not fruit in it (your fake muffinteacake).
We need a new classfication
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 04:16 pm (UTC)Perhaps there should be a Spotters Guide to teatime products? With pictures and diagrams?
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 04:18 pm (UTC)Muffins make excellent savory items. If only ****ing Tesco would stock the wholemeal ones more reliably they'd probably be a staple of my diet.
Muffins, on the other hand, are nothing like fairy cakes. A good muffin is much moister and more crumbly than a fairly cake and has a clearly defined crust on the part of it that emerges from the case. Muffins are a staple of my diet[1] in exactly the way that fairy cakes aren't.
[1] I was reading a very rude article about obesity in America which contained the line "a muffin the size of a softball is not a suitable breakfast". This struck me as a fine idea (or rather the exact reverse), so I now make a point of seeking out extra large double-chocolate muffins. For breakfast, where possible !
no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-02 10:54 pm (UTC)