WHERE ALL'S ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" ~ 1908
Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer
~ Unofficial Anthem of North American Baseball ~
The turn - of - the century snack was recently featured
in this tasteful tableau at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum
1881 Drawing of the Samuel M. Nickerson House (completed 1883)
Now the Richard H. Driehaus Museum
40 East Erie Street, Chicago ~ Corner of Wabash & Erie
Although the Cracker Jack Prize has now been replaced by a
mobile app that allows you to play a digital baseball game
on your phone, it is still alluded to in plenty of political cartoons:
********************
"That's a crackerjack!"
"The More You Eat, the More You Want!"
~ Product Slogans from the 1890s ~
Somehow, all these years, I have remained unfamiliar with "Cracker Jack" as a colloquialism meaning "of excellent quality." Thus, when Gerry asked me to proofread a speech he was preparing, I was puzzled by his use of "cracker - jack" as an upbeat, gung - ho adjective and advised him that some Americans (surely not just me?) might not think of "cracker - jack" as a positive modifier. I worried that it might sound a bit too much like "crack - pot" or bring to mind not just the caramel corn concoction but also the cheap plastic trinkets, miniscule toys, and faux jewelry offered inside of each box as a prize. Some prize! Conotations of value-less-ness sprang to mind.
As alternative adjectives, I suggested: "compelling, dynamic, energizing." But Gerry was searching for "an antiquated term of excellence" -- those all sounded too new - age. So perhaps best to leave "cracker - jack" in the sentence. I didn't want to steer him wrong, after all. And, despite the fact that it was news to me, I could plainly see that the dictionary was defining "cracker - jack" as "exceptionally good." I thought maybe it was a British thing -- like the popular kids' television show, familiar to Gerry but unbeknownst to me; but no, the dictionary also said "North American informal."
So maybe I am the only one -- in America or England! -- who never uses it that way. I'm the first to admit that I'd probably get only a 20,000 on that facebook vocab quiz -- not a 30,000 like all of our genius friends. In fact, I can't say that "cracker - jack" is really in my vocabulary at all, except to refer to the movie / baseball snack -- and even then, I don't say "Cracker Jack" -- I say "Cracker Jacks." Not to mention that it is not even my favorite kind of carmel corn -- too sticky for my taste; and to tell the truth the prizes have always been just lame -- okay, nostalgic! Still and all, I like the song, even though I've been singing it wrong all my life.
Aaron's game day photos / post
While we're on the topic of time - honored treats, check out the winner and runners - up of Best Biscuit in Britain! Gerry and I had a lot of fun watching the countdown on British television a couple of Christmases ago. He approved of the winner -- the Chocolate Digestive (either dark or milk; though he usually prefers plain -- futher down on the list at #9). But I was rooting for the arch rival Chocolate Hobnob which ended up in second place (again, either dark or milk; as with Digestives, plain Hobnobs -- #19 -- are also delicious).
frosting my Chocolate Hobnobs to resemble Christmas Puddings!
SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS ON MY
Next Fortnightly Post
Sunday, July 14th
Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com
Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogspot.com
They are horrible, but I loved the little prizes. At one time the Museum of Science & Industry had a display of ALL the prizes to date. I'm sure it's long gone. At one of our local farmer's markets they have a maker of kettle corn that is actually quite good when you get it fresh out of the smokey kettle.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael! Back in the days when I walked to grade school, my siblings and I would pass a house -- didn't know who lived there -- but someone eccentric enough to fill their windowsill, visible from the sidewalk, with dozens of Cracker Jack prizes. As you an imagine, we were mesmerized!
ReplyDeleteBest Biscuit in Britain: https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/life/food-drink/best-biscuit-uk-709976
ReplyDeleteAaron's game day photos / post: https://www.facebook.com/aaron.carriker.7/posts/pfbid0378dd9tJ37YBeLdtp6xYnWHf5QMVZc7LhEi8q2mzZXBw3GSJCrzb7UtnHbjXfSM3Wl
ReplyDelete