Thursday, March 25, 2010

It Means What?

My router died on Monday so I used the time to finish a magazine and start this book, which is my next read. It's quite light reading, maybe that's good at my advanced age. I enjoyed chuckling through the first chapter.

Then I stumbled upon the following statement:

"You know you're old when you've thrown your back trying to open a can of pilchards."

Wha?

What the heck is a "can of pilchards"?

My big, black cat was named for Bob the Builder's cat. I knew nothing of this PBS cartoon until I had the opportunity to adopt this cat. I had seen a couple of graphics that showed Bob with a long-haired black cat standing by him. "Oh, okay." This sentence implies there's something more here.

So, a check of Wikipedia for "pilchard" and it's another name for sardine.

Sardines, or pilchards, are a group of several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae.[1] Sardines were named after the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where they were once in abundance.[2]

The terms sardine and pilchard are not precise, and the usual meanings vary by region. Britain's Sea Fish Industry Authority for example classifies sardines as young pilchards.[3] One system of measurement suggests that fish shorter in length than 6 inches (15 cm) are sardines, and larger ones pilchards.[4] The FAO/WHO Codex standard for canned sardines cites 21 species that may be classed as sardines;[5] FishBase, a comprehensive database of information about fish, lists at least six species called just “pilchard,” over a dozen called just “sardine,” and many more with the two basic names qualified by various adjectives.

I just have to laugh. It's somewhat fitting, isn't it? Name a cat after a fish. Her royal highness does like tuna water.

Plus, Bob the Builder originated in Britain. We don't call sardines pilchards. That's a very British term. Makes perfect sense why they would name a cat "Pilchard".

I looked today on the Bob the Builder site and there wasn't a cat to be found, or at least that I could see. That's kind of sad. I would liked to have seen the representation of my cat.

You know I'm going to think of sardines now when this feline decides she wants to lie in my lap. There is nothing "sardined" about 17 pounds of fur lying across my legs with her head on my arm preventing me from adequately killing mean baddies in my game. Yet, when she looks up at me....

Beverage: Earl Grey Tea

Deb

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