Monday, February 2, 2009

What?

Okay, this cracks me up!
Word of the Day: victuals
victuals \VIT-uhlz\, noun: food or provisions, esp. for humans
Before the hurricane hit, we went to the store for victuals.
Vit-uhlz??? As in vittles? As in hicksville? Deliverance?
c 1303, vitaylle (singular), from Anglo-French and Old French vitaille, from Late Latin victualia "provisions," noun use of plural of victualis "of nourishment," from victus "livelihood, food, sustenance," from base of vivere "to live." Spelling altered by 1523 to conform with Latin, but pronunciation remains "vittles."

More about vittles:

Berlin Airlift: Operation Vittles » HistoryNet
Fifty-six years ago, The press delighted in describing how pilots formerly assigned to desks were now flying around the clock to keep the city alive in what was quickly dubbed Operation Vittles. DC-4s from various civilian air carriers participated in the auxiliary transatlantic lift in support of Operation Vittles.
Operation Little Vittles@Everything2.com
An American airman, Gail Halvorsen, is credited with starting what the Americans called the "Candy Bombers" by taking his chocolate and chewing gum rations and attaching them to parachutes made of handkerchiefs in what he called "Operation Little Vittles."
I'm goin' to the kitchen, see if I can find me some victualia.
Did I just say that?

1 comment:

amuse me said...

Funny you should have this word -- victuals (or vittles) on your blog as I show some vittles that definitely could be from a "deliverance" location! We are going to serve these vittles up to our grandchildren sometime and see what their reaction is!

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