Posted by Ed Kiser on February 20, 2008 at 23:06:19 from 205.188.116.198 user Kisered.
A short while ago, there was some discussion about brand names becoming generic names, like using the name, "Kodak" to mean any camera regardless of the maker, or "Xerox" for any brand of photo copier.
This leads me to the references to "Quaker Oats" which, as a brand name, should be stated with Initial Caps.
In WH CH22, we see:
"There's lots of Quaker Oats in the cupboard."
Note the usage of Initial Caps in this brand name.
Yet in PD CH9 is a similar reference, as:
"Sorry, sorry," said Susan. "Come on, Peggy. I put some quaker oats to soak last night.
Because this last reference was to a LOWER CASE name, this makes me think that this may be a generic reference so some dry oat material, and perhaps of yet a different brand.
Another explanation could be that in my typing, I made a mistake with one of these references and got the caps wrong. Checked with my Godine yellow paperback version, and saw that I got the caps just like it was in those books, so that mistake was not made.
Why is the name written with Initial Caps in one place, and in another all lower case?
These two are the only references to "QUAKER" (of any caps usage.)
--------------------
Now, on a somewhat different topic, consider "PORRIDGE" which appears 46 times in these twelve books.
What is PORRIDGE?
Is it perhaps what you get when you cook Quaker Oats?
Mrs. Dixon said that she had already put in the sugar in the bucket of porridge she brought to Wild Cat Island for the survivors of the thunderstorm on their last night there. This seems to be the only reference to "Sugar" being used in porridge.
And in PD CH15 is the reference:
...porridge on to boil in the double cooker.
Another mystery here - what is a "Double cooker"? And why would porridge need to be double cooked? What ever kind of special kitchen equipment that may be, probably at the camp sites Susan did not have access to such, and had to cook her porridge in a single pot over the camp fire. So maybe the "double cooker" is not a requirement for cooking porridge.
The things we learn as we persue the study of All Things Ransome.
I always toss in a handfull of raisins when cooking the Quaker Oats for my breakfast. No Sugar, just a dash of skim milk. Nice to warm the belly on a cold snowy morning. (South Florida was never like this... Brrr...) But that is just me.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky