Today's post won't tax your brain like the last one did. Trying to think of titles of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories for a fill-in-the-blanks quiz isn't all that easy. Today's post will be easy on the grey matter.
By the way, the titles I had in mind were The Gold Bug, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red Death, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Purloined Letter, and The Fall of the House of Usher. No less a personage than the bard of Sheffield, old Yorkshire Pudding himself, who claims to have taught English for 30 years, could name only one of them.
Anyway, for something a little lighter, I recommend that you read "What's the Best Hot Dog in America? We Tried 15 Popular Brands to Find Out"
I know that hot dogs are not good for you. I know they contain nitrates. I don't care. I eat them anyway. It can now be revealed that I have never liked Oscar Mayer hot dogs, which came in at #3 in the article. For years, Ball Park All-Beef Franks, which tied at #9, were what we consumed at our house. A couple of years ago, pursuing the thought that kosher hot dogs had to be better than non-kosher ones, we switched to Nathan's Angus Beef Franks. In so doing, we unknowingly switched from #9 to #2 among American hot dogs.
Given the cross-section of people who comment on this blog, I would like to know what kind of hot dogs Canadians and Australians and people in the U.K. eat. Not you personally, if hot dogs are not your cup of tea (a mixed metaphor if there ever was one), but what your countrymen and/or countrywomen eat. Yes, I am curious, red, white, and blue.
When we are in a decadent mood and feel lke throwing caution to the winds, Mrs. RWP likes sauerkraut on her hot dogs and I like chili, cheese, and onions on mine. Fortunately for our digestive systems and overall health, neither of us has been in a decadent mood in a very long time.
But that is probably a topic best pursued in a separate post.
Don't hold your breath.
When I working in accountancy, I said of something (cannot remember what) that it really taxes your brain. "At what rate?" asked one of the partners.
ReplyDeletetasker, that's a good one! But what about your hot dogs?
DeleteHot dogs are not very popular over here. We prefer proper sausages. I typed "most popular hot dog sausage in uk" into Google and got back the brand name "Princes".
ReplyDeleteP.S. I first taught English at the age of 18 and last taught it at the age of 60. Edgar Allan Poe did not feature in any syllabus or scheme of work I ever taught. In addition, he did not feature in any of the English courses I took at university. Most of my teaching career was spent working with children from urban areas with significant pockets of deprivation. A good many of my pupils came from poor homes that did not contain any books. If I had taught in schools that served more affluent youngsters, I may well have been more conversant with Edgar Allan Poe's writings. Mind you, the small sample of his work that I once read did not inspire me to read more. To me he seemed very much "second division" in the pantheon of English Literature.
Neil, I didn't mean to insult you, it just comes as a surprise to me that English classes in America cover both American and English writers, but English classes in England concentrate mainly on English writers. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. I am impessed that your teaching career covered a span of 42 years; that is something of which you can be quite proud. Well done! Did you know that in Douglas Adams's book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy he wrote that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42?
DeleteI've just read your post and the previous one. I could only name three EAPs (The P and the P, The Fall of the H of U and The Murders on the R M). I am not a fan but I did attempt a few. Why? I cannot remember.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of hot dogs and as I don't think I've ever seen them on a menu here I'm not sure which sort (I thought there was just one sort) are preferred.
Graham, thank you for your participation. I don't think I would do well at all in a quiz involving Scottish writers except for possibly Robert Burns. And thanks to you and Neil I now know that hot dogs are not popular in either Scotland or England.
DeleteWell don't hold your breath. I can't remember the last time I had a hot dog. But I remember liking hotdogs as a kid. All we had was mustard to put on the hotdog. Oh, they had to be cooked over an open fire..
ReplyDeleteRed, apparently the further north one goes the less one can expect to encounter hot dogs.
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