In one of the books by Edward Lear, I found the line “Here are curried crumpets, crocodiles and beans.” Is “crocodile” just a name for a fancy dish here?
This would be Edward Lear the nonsense poet yes?
It is possible it refers to a dish that this UK resident is unaware of but the “curried crumpet” seems clearly to be ridiculous and so the “crocodile” is likely to be just that, placed there for nonsensical effect.
Not one I’ve ever heard of.
Given that it’s Edward Lear, and in the company of ‘curried crumpets’, which are a pretty silly concept, I would guess that it’s intended to mean the animal.
I’m unaware of such a dish. On the other hand, I’ve eaten actual crocodile meat many times.
Which Lear was this, BTW, I’m unfamiliar with that one.
I’ve got some bad news about the Bong Tree, too.
That line isn’t by Edward Lear, it’s by Henry Saville Clark.
Clark was putting on a play of Alice through the Looking Glass, and wanted an extra verse to add to
Then fill up the glasses with treacle and ink.
Or anything else that is pleasant to drink;
Mix sand with the cider, and wool with the wine—
And welcome Queen Alice with ninety-times-nine!
He wrote this verse:
Sound the festal trumpets, set the bells a-ringing,
Here are curried crumpets, crocodiles and beans:
Raise on high the chalice, in our honour singing,
Welcome, welcome Alice, with the noble Queens.
which is nowhere near as good as Lewis Carroll’s.
No kidding - it doesn’t have the same metre or rhyme scheme.
OK, I admit Edward Lear used a lot of facetiae in his books–but I must point out that as an American I am not familiar with most British vocabulary…for all I know there could be a British food item called “crocodile.”
You could lead an entire line of elementary school children through the street to the local food store and find out.
I’ve lived in England all my life (64 years and counting!)
I’ve never heard of ‘crocodile’ as a food.
This joke is the closest: “Give me a crocodile sandwich - and make it snappy!”
Victorians ate a lot of odd things now forgot. Like lashings of kedgeree for breakfast.
However crocodilians weren’t near enough to form a food group.
I can imagine eating a crumpet with some curry paste on top, just like marmite, but Americans might not imagine crumpets as they are with all the little holes on top. Apparently Wycliffe ate them between his translating.
And of course, words have a choice of meanings, many now forgot, despite it being unlikely crumpets were ever brushed with a horse comb.
ISWYDT…good one
I don’t know why I think this, but I thought it was a candy bar or something.
No, those are Chocodiles.
Beat me to it!
It made me think of this, from Lewis Carroll:
Which is a parody of this mind-numbingly inane poem by Isaac Watts:
Gods, the Victorians were really pushy with the “Improving Yourself” line in childrens’ poems, weren’t they?
Watts, who really was… annoying, was born in the 17th century.
No relation to George Frederic Watts, who was a Victorian.
Check out the Fairchild Family for improving literature.
Richard Armour commented in Punctured Poems about how Russian experts claimed to have trained bees to seek nectar and pollen from specific plants and to ignore others. Armour wrote a poem in counterpoint, titled “Bee Lines,” with these lines, in reply:
It begins with:
How doth the regimented bee
Improve each shining hour?
He flies to each selected tree
And designated flower.
And ends with:
No longer flying fancy-free,
No longer ranging bold…
How doth the regimented bee?
He doth as he is told.
–From Light Armour.
(And before you ask, I know that male bees are drones and females, except for queens, are the workers. Mr. Armour is no longer with us.)