Discussion:
"cards of gingerbread"
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Tacia
2009-03-07 10:42:57 UTC
Permalink
Hello,

I was reading /Little Women/ by Louisa M. Alcott, and got stuck with
the phrase "cards of gingerbread."

---------------
Jo remembered [Uncle March], who used to let her build railroads and
bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer
pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever
he met her in the street.

(Quoted from Chapter 4, "Burdens")
---------------

I have consulted many dictionaries, but still have no idea of the
meaning of the "card."
What's the concept of this measure word?



Regards
Tacia
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
2009-03-07 11:15:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tacia
Hello,
I was reading /Little Women/ by Louisa M. Alcott, and got stuck with
the phrase "cards of gingerbread."
---------------
Jo remembered [Uncle March], who used to let her build railroads and
bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer
pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever
he met her in the street.
(Quoted from Chapter 4, "Burdens")
---------------
I have consulted many dictionaries, but still have no idea of the
meaning of the "card."
What's the concept of this measure word?
According to the OED:

card, n.2
III. 5. a. gen. A flat piece of stiff paper or thin pasteboard,
usually rectangular; used as a surface to write or draw upon, or for
other purposes.
....
b. transf. Anything having the form of a card. U.S.

1823 J. F. COOPER Pioneers ix, With ‘cards of ginger~bread’.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
Robert Bannister
2009-03-07 22:25:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Duncanson (BrE)
Post by Tacia
Hello,
I was reading /Little Women/ by Louisa M. Alcott, and got stuck with
the phrase "cards of gingerbread."
---------------
Jo remembered [Uncle March], who used to let her build railroads and
bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer
pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever
he met her in the street.
(Quoted from Chapter 4, "Burdens")
---------------
I have consulted many dictionaries, but still have no idea of the
meaning of the "card."
What's the concept of this measure word?
card, n.2
III. 5. a. gen. A flat piece of stiff paper or thin pasteboard,
usually rectangular; used as a surface to write or draw upon, or for
other purposes.
....
b. transf. Anything having the form of a card. U.S.
1823 J. F. COOPER Pioneers ix, With ‘cards of ginger~bread’.
That does not explain it very well, or at least not to me. I can only
presume that the gingerbread involved was more like German gingerbread
and hard, rather than cake-like.
--
Rob Bannister
Paul Wolff
2009-03-07 22:58:03 UTC
Permalink
Post by Robert Bannister
Post by Peter Duncanson (BrE)
Post by Tacia
Hello,
I was reading /Little Women/ by Louisa M. Alcott, and got stuck with
the phrase "cards of gingerbread."
---------------
Jo remembered [Uncle March], who used to let her build railroads and
bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer
pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever
he met her in the street.
(Quoted from Chapter 4, "Burdens")
---------------
I have consulted many dictionaries, but still have no idea of the
meaning of the "card."
What's the concept of this measure word?
card, n.2
III. 5. a. gen. A flat piece of stiff paper or thin pasteboard,
usually rectangular; used as a surface to write or draw upon, or for
other purposes.
....
b. transf. Anything having the form of a card. U.S.
1823 J. F. COOPER Pioneers ix, With ‘cards of ginger~bread’.
That does not explain it very well, or at least not to me. I can only
presume that the gingerbread involved was more like German gingerbread
and hard, rather than cake-like.
Then let me direct you to a picture of Grasmere gingerbread:

<http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/PFO7433.php>

If the pairs are snapped apart along the median groove, they are pretty
much like large playing-cards, like this:

<http://www.grasmere.com/shopping/grasmere-gingerbread.htm>

if a trifle thick for shuffling.

They are very pleasant. I finished some off a week or two ago, and may
pick up some more in April.
--
Paul
Tacia
2009-03-08 11:30:33 UTC
Permalink
On 3月8日, 上午6時58分, Paul Wolff <***@two.wolff.co.uk> wrote:

[...]
Post by Paul Wolff
<http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/PFO7433.php>
If the pairs are snapped apart along the median groove, they are pretty
<http://www.grasmere.com/shopping/grasmere-gingerbread.htm>
Thanks for the links!
Seeing James Hogg's statement that "cards" refers to the shape, I
thought it was the shape of the box used to put the gingerbread in...

Thank everyone!
Robert Bannister
2009-03-09 00:00:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by Paul Wolff
Post by Robert Bannister
Post by Peter Duncanson (BrE)
Post by Tacia
Hello,
I was reading /Little Women/ by Louisa M. Alcott, and got stuck with
the phrase "cards of gingerbread."
---------------
Jo remembered [Uncle March], who used to let her build railroads and
bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer
pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever
he met her in the street.
(Quoted from Chapter 4, "Burdens")
---------------
I have consulted many dictionaries, but still have no idea of the
meaning of the "card."
What's the concept of this measure word?
card, n.2
III. 5. a. gen. A flat piece of stiff paper or thin pasteboard,
usually rectangular; used as a surface to write or draw upon, or for
other purposes.
....
b. transf. Anything having the form of a card. U.S.
1823 J. F. COOPER Pioneers ix, With ‘cards of ginger~bread’.
That does not explain it very well, or at least not to me. I can only
presume that the gingerbread involved was more like German gingerbread
and hard, rather than cake-like.
<http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/PFO7433.php>
Interesting, but Grasmere is well north of Watford. Need I say more?
--
Rob Bannister
Garrett Wollman
2009-03-08 02:36:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Robert Bannister
That does not explain it very well, or at least not to me. I can only
presume that the gingerbread involved was more like German gingerbread
and hard, rather than cake-like.
You would not go far wrong by assuming that any American dessert is of
German origin rather than English. (Although there are of course many
French and Italian deserts, but they tend to betray themselves by
still having their original names, or as close thereto as typical AmE
speakers can approximate.) The great dessert-makers of America were
the Pennsylvania Dutch, who were of course Germans, not Dutch.
Gingerbread here is definitely in the form of a cookie (to use a Dutch
-- not Pennsylvania Dutch -- word); not at all cake-like. Gingerbread
is the wallboard of the gingerbread-house-construction industry.

-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are
***@csail.mit.edu| nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry
Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape
of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness
James Hogg
2009-03-07 11:20:50 UTC
Permalink
On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 02:42:57 -0800 (PST), Tacia
Post by Tacia
Hello,
I was reading /Little Women/ by Louisa M. Alcott, and got stuck with
the phrase "cards of gingerbread."
---------------
Jo remembered [Uncle March], who used to let her build railroads and
bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer
pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever
he met her in the street.
(Quoted from Chapter 4, "Burdens")
---------------
I have consulted many dictionaries, but still have no idea of the
meaning of the "card."
What's the concept of this measure word?
It's just the shape.

OED:
card n2 III 5 b
"Anything having the form of a card. U.S."

Two of the quotations refer to cards of gingerbread, the third is
from a Dictionary of Apiculture: "Card, a frame filled with
honeycomb. A sheet of honeycomb."

James
Paul Wolff
2009-03-07 15:38:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by James Hogg
On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 02:42:57 -0800 (PST), Tacia
Post by Tacia
Hello,
I was reading /Little Women/ by Louisa M. Alcott, and got stuck with
the phrase "cards of gingerbread."
---------------
Jo remembered [Uncle March], who used to let her build railroads and
bridges with his big dictionaries, tell her stories about queer
pictures in his Latin books, and buy her cards of gingerbread whenever
he met her in the street.
(Quoted from Chapter 4, "Burdens")
---------------
I have consulted many dictionaries, but still have no idea of the
meaning of the "card."
What's the concept of this measure word?
It's just the shape.
card n2 III 5 b
"Anything having the form of a card. U.S."
Two of the quotations refer to cards of gingerbread, the third is
from a Dictionary of Apiculture: "Card, a frame filled with
honeycomb. A sheet of honeycomb."
Modernise the idea, and you may add a sound card to your PCI slot.
--
Paul
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