Old and New

Arnold Zwicky has some wise words for anyone interested in etymology. Take a look (and maybe follow some of the links there).

Seeds of Mystery

I like bagels. Shop'n'Save sells fresh bagels in packs of four, and I buy them as snacks: poppy seed, sesame seed, cinnamon-raisin, whole wheat, apple-cinnamon... Their current supplier is quite good; the bagels are nice and chewy.

For the last several weeks, every bagel I've bought there has tasted of caraway. Now, my sense of smell is not entirely reliable; sometimes my nose and tongue make things up. I had tentatively chalked it up to that cause.

But just now, I was eating a ham-and-cheese sandwich, and found a sure-as-shootin' caraway seed in it. In potato bread. What on earth is caraway doing in potato bread?

I don't much like caraway.