Posted by Jonathan Labaree on June 14, 2003 at 01:32:43 from 66.61.157.180 user JLabaree.
In Reply to: Re: Pemmican; was Force posted by Peter Ceresole on June 14, 2003 at -1:22:49:
My opinion of canned corned beef is that it is somewhat inferior to the average dog food [not that I eat a lot of dog food!]
But surely anything tastes great when you're camping. I wouldn't dream of opening a can of corned beef hash (or roast beef hash, for that matter) at home, but riding at anchor in a quiet Maine cove after a day of sunshine, wind, and navigation, that can of corned beef hash is pure nector.
Which makes me wonder - what made AR use the term "pemmican" to begin with? Under what context would the children have heard of it? No doubt it's mentioned in the books, but the origin escapes me. The term couldn't have been as common as "grog" or some of their other replacement-words. Why do I connect pemmican with Arctic/Antarctic exploration? Would that have been how the kids had heard of it?