# "Crocodile" (British usage) as a name for a food item...?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350 "2017-10-09T02:27:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/1 "2017-10-09T02:27:34Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/2 "2017-10-09T07:40:20Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/3 "2017-10-09T07:44:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/4 "2017-10-09T08:25:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/5 "2017-10-09T08:50:29Z")
I’ve got some bad news about the Bong Tree, too. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/6 "2017-10-09T10:33:12Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/7 "2017-10-09T11:02:02Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/8 "2017-10-09T14:56:24Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/9 "2017-10-09T15:00:35Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/10 "2017-10-09T15:26:18Z")
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!” ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/11 "2017-10-09T15:57:50Z")
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**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/12 "2017-10-09T16:10:23Z")
> [@calmeacham](#): > > you could lead an entire line of elementary school children through the street to the local food store and find out. ISWYDT…good one ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/13 "2017-10-09T18:15:43Z")
I don’t know why I think this, but I thought it was a candy bar or something. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/14 "2017-10-09T18:40:07Z")
No, those are [Chocodiles](http://freshchocodiles.com/images/chocodiles_top_450w.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/15 "2017-10-09T18:42:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > No, those are [Chocodiles](http://freshchocodiles.com/images/chocodiles_top_450w.jpg). Beat me to it! ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/16 "2017-10-09T19:19:22Z")
It made me think of this, from Lewis Carroll: > [@](#): > > How doth the little crocodile > Improve his shining tail > And pour the waters of the Nile > On every golden scale! > How cheerfully he seems to grin > How neatly spreads his claws > And welcomes little fishes in > With gently smiling jaws! Which is a parody of this mind-numbingly inane poem by Isaac Watts: > [@](#): > > AGAINST IDLENESS AND MISCHIEF > > How doth the little busy bee > Improve each shining hour, > And gather honey all the day > From every opening flower! > > How skilfully she builds her cell! > How neat she spreads the wax! > And labours hard to store it well > With the sweet food she makes. > > In works of labour or of skill > I would be busy too: > For Satan finds some mischief still > For idle hands to do. > > In books, or work, or healthful play > Let my first years be past, > That I may give for every day > Some good account at last. Gods, the Victorians were really pushy with the “Improving Yourself” line in childrens’ poems, weren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/17 "2017-10-09T19:54:11Z")
Watts, who really was… annoying, was born in the 17th century. No relation to [**George**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frederic_Watts) Frederic Watts, who _was_ a Victorian. Check out the [**Fairchild Family**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Fairchild_Family) for improving literature. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crocodile-british-usage-as-a-name-for-a-food-item/798350/18 "2017-10-10T05:27:05Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > 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? 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.)