Fluff
Thank you all for lending me your ears. I am going to talk to you today for 3 minutes about, fluff.
What's really cool about fluff is that the word itself has three f's! It's not very common that we find words with that many f's in them or that many of any letter. When I googled for double, triple and quadruple letter words, I found a short list on wikipedia, most of which have those multiple letters because of the use of a suffix, such as the word bulllike. There was only one word that has more than three f's in it, can anybody guess it? Think generally unwanted people in your neighborhood. Yes? No? The word is "riffraff".
Fluff is also a very versatile term. It can be a noun, a verb (to fluff), and, with the addition of a "y", an adjective (i.e. fluffy).
We can also use it colloquially to mean something insubstantial as in "that book was total fluff".
Fluff is the stuff you put inside of pillows, stuffed animals, winter coats. It's the stuff the flies off of dandelions and milk weed pods in late summer. And here in Vermont, it's the stuff that floats in through your car windows during the only season you can have your car windows open.
When I was about 10 years old, I made a t-shirt that was too small to wear into a pillow. I put in two tiny clumps of filling thinking, in my 10 year old way, that somehow the extra air would make the pillow fluffier. I still have that little pillow. It lays wilted in my bed, but I scrunch it up and use it to bolster my neck.
The most curious (and in my opinion questionable) use of the term "fluff" is when we refer to it as a food product. Oddly, marshmallow fluff is not particularly light or floaty. It is, in fact, sticky and gooey.
But even if I'm dubious about fluff as a food, it's been around for a really long time. In 1917 a Sommerville, Massachusetts man named Archibald Query came up with the recipe. Shortages during WWI forced him to shut down and after the war he wasn't interested in doing that business anymore so he sold the recipe to Mr.'s Durkee and Mower --as in Durkee foods.
Personally, I was surprised to find that there is a website devoted to Marshmallow Fluff. From their FAQ section, Scott will be pleased to know that it is gluten free, as well as kosher. In the history of fluff section I learned that fluff had its own 15 minute radio spot called the fluffette's in the early 1930's. The website has a fluff finder -in case you move and can't find someplace that sells fluff- and of course it has recipes and a recipe book called "The Yummy Book". The most famous recipe, which we all know, is of course: the fluffernutter. (By the way, that word has 3 f's, 2 t's, 2 u's, 2 r's and 2 e's.)
Now, the website has some old and catchy jingles on it. You'll be very pleased to know that I learned one for you: "Oh you need fluff fluff fluff, to make a fluffernutter. Marshmallow fluff and lots of peanut butter. First you spread spread spread, your bread with peanut butter, add marshmallow fluff and have a fluffernutter. When you enjoy joy joy, your fluff and peanut butter, you're glad you have enough for another fluffernutter!"
Yes, thank you...
What's really cool about fluff is that the word itself has three f's! It's not very common that we find words with that many f's in them or that many of any letter. When I googled for double, triple and quadruple letter words, I found a short list on wikipedia, most of which have those multiple letters because of the use of a suffix, such as the word bulllike. There was only one word that has more than three f's in it, can anybody guess it? Think generally unwanted people in your neighborhood. Yes? No? The word is "riffraff".
Fluff is also a very versatile term. It can be a noun, a verb (to fluff), and, with the addition of a "y", an adjective (i.e. fluffy).
We can also use it colloquially to mean something insubstantial as in "that book was total fluff".
Fluff is the stuff you put inside of pillows, stuffed animals, winter coats. It's the stuff the flies off of dandelions and milk weed pods in late summer. And here in Vermont, it's the stuff that floats in through your car windows during the only season you can have your car windows open.
When I was about 10 years old, I made a t-shirt that was too small to wear into a pillow. I put in two tiny clumps of filling thinking, in my 10 year old way, that somehow the extra air would make the pillow fluffier. I still have that little pillow. It lays wilted in my bed, but I scrunch it up and use it to bolster my neck.
The most curious (and in my opinion questionable) use of the term "fluff" is when we refer to it as a food product. Oddly, marshmallow fluff is not particularly light or floaty. It is, in fact, sticky and gooey.
But even if I'm dubious about fluff as a food, it's been around for a really long time. In 1917 a Sommerville, Massachusetts man named Archibald Query came up with the recipe. Shortages during WWI forced him to shut down and after the war he wasn't interested in doing that business anymore so he sold the recipe to Mr.'s Durkee and Mower --as in Durkee foods.
Personally, I was surprised to find that there is a website devoted to Marshmallow Fluff. From their FAQ section, Scott will be pleased to know that it is gluten free, as well as kosher. In the history of fluff section I learned that fluff had its own 15 minute radio spot called the fluffette's in the early 1930's. The website has a fluff finder -in case you move and can't find someplace that sells fluff- and of course it has recipes and a recipe book called "The Yummy Book". The most famous recipe, which we all know, is of course: the fluffernutter. (By the way, that word has 3 f's, 2 t's, 2 u's, 2 r's and 2 e's.)
Now, the website has some old and catchy jingles on it. You'll be very pleased to know that I learned one for you: "Oh you need fluff fluff fluff, to make a fluffernutter. Marshmallow fluff and lots of peanut butter. First you spread spread spread, your bread with peanut butter, add marshmallow fluff and have a fluffernutter. When you enjoy joy joy, your fluff and peanut butter, you're glad you have enough for another fluffernutter!"
Yes, thank you...