On a TV commercial, the narrator says he wants' some "peanut brickle." I've heard of "peanut brittle" but not that. Is there a difference between them? And what is the difference?
“brickle” [is] " the Scots and English dialect form of “brittle” and a form common in the Midwestern US and Appalachia." ... “Peanut brittle,” easily breakable (thus “brittle”) hard toffee containing peanuts, is also known, in the US, as “peanut brickle.”
M-W simply says that "brickle" is dialect for "brittle." Dictionary.com expands on that:
quote:
brick⋅le
–adjective Midland and Southern U.S. easily broken; brittle. Origin: bef. 1000; Brit. dial., Scots; late ME bryckell, OE -brycel tending to break, equiv. to bryc- (mutated ptp. s. of brecan to break ) + -el adj. suffix
A reader sent me this link after reading these posts. That's my hubs' favorite ice cream.
We Americans do love our brittles and brickles, though personally I think peanut brittle is awful. I'd never waste a bunch of calories on that! Butter brickle ice cream is another story!
I have never heard of peanut brittle being pronounced as "brickle" - although it might conceivably be a Scots expression. Scottish accents are all quite different from all English accents - although I don't know whether US ears can detect that.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
Originally posted by Richard English: Scottish accents are all quite different from all English accents - although I don't know whether US ears can detect that.
When we stayed in Stirling, the hotel owner said all sorts of things to us, but I couldn't understand a word.
Several years ago, I walked to the bottom of an embankment to take pictures of a waterfall in the Great Smokies National Park. I left my wife at the top in the parking area near another couple. When I returned my wife was glassy-eyed trying to understand what the woman was saying. As I approached, the woman was saying, "En ah knowed y'all warn't fum roun her cause them tegs on yur cur is dif'rent." (And I knew you weren't from around here because the tags [license plates] on your car were different.) The woman was from Kentucky and her accent could just as well have been Scottish to my wife.
Does anyone know of a store or vendor in the area that sells Virginia peanuts? I recall there possibly being a vendor at the King's Street Farmer's Market that sells them but I'm not sure. I need to give them as a gift and I don't have time left to order them over the internet.
Butter brickle ice cream is another story!
