NTMP 117: Swamp Doulas

Apologies in adVance

New-To-Me Phrases, July 21, 2024

Swamp candles * Global Village Coffeehouse * Flower frog * Fizzy coffee * Besidewalk * Racist Care Bear * Mogwarts * Poop doulas

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

---

The phrases, with context

Are you also gorging yourself on summer produce? Just slicing up tomatoes and enjoying them with a little salt and pepper? Moaning in ecstasy over summer salads for lunch? I got some eggplant at my farmers market and I’m going to make eggplant involtini, courtesy of

the smitten kitchen digest

along with meatballs and sauce from Recipe Tin Eats. I didn’t do much vegetable gardening this year but I do have cucumbers coming up and a couple of very late tomato plants starting to show potential.

What are you growing and enjoying from this season?

This week, we have brilliant birdies, a great retort, polyonymous grass strips, and more.

Let’s get to it!

1. Swamp candles

I can see why these lemon-yellow birds got this nickname, because ‘Prothonotary Warblers’ is hard to remember.

This Week in Birding

has a short video showing these pretty little birbs in their Illinois habitat near Springfield in the mid-to-lower half of the state, along with efforts to support their nesting using orange juice cartons.

Fun? fact via Cornell Lab of Ornithology: “The Prothonotary Warbler got its name from the bright yellow robes worn by papal clerks, known as prothonotaries, in the Roman Catholic church.” Merriam-Webster says the word has roots in Latin for notarius (stenographer).

An even wilder story from that same Cornell Lab “All About Birds” page:

In 1948 Alger Hiss an American government official was accused of being a soviet spy. Part of the trial hinged on whether Hiss knew Whittaker Chambers, a former member of the U.S. Communist Party. Chambers claimed that he talked to Hiss about watching birds and reported Hiss's excitement about seeing a Prothonotary Warbler on the Potomac River. This bird sighting linked the two people and eventually led to Hiss's sentence and to the rise of Richard Nixon to political power.

2. Global Village Coffeehouse

Some interior design styles are easily recognized by name—midcentury modern, Victorian, Art Deco. The Global Village Coffeehouse (GVC) aesthetic is something that I knew existed but I didn’t know it had a name. GVC was more corporate in nature, and as the name implies, some really gross cultural appropriation was definitely involved here through the use of “tribal” art and symbols taken out of context in order to sell stuff.

According to Aesthetics Wiki (which I am so happy exists!):

Global Village Coffeehouse, abbreviated as GVC, is an aesthetic that was prevalent from roughly the late 1980s to mid-1990s, overlapping with the Memphis Design/Memphis Lite aesthetic. It was inspired by the ambiance and cultural diversity often found in coffeehouses around the world. It blends elements of bohemian, eclectic, and cozy atmospheres with a touch of international flair.

There are some great image examples at that link—I’m not sharing them due to rights issues. The color that most stands out to me from this aesthetic is a sort of burnt honey yellow. Panera seems to still use some of these colors and elements in their designs, but readers of a certain age will find these elements very familiar and extremely of their time.

3. Flower frog

I came across this phrase in a crafting book and had never heard of it before, by this or any other name. It’s a term from flower arranging whose origins are unknown, but some speculate that it was named because it sits in the water like a frog. The object/practice itself dates back to 14th century Japan, where the art of flower arranging required placing flowers in specific configurations that required support to hold them in place. A flower frog is the modern name for any object or structure for holding flowers in a container, whether by wire mesh or a ceramic insert with holes at the bottom. Here are a few examples of different types of flower frogs.

4. Fizzy coffee

Where have I been that I missed a decades-old beverage trend? Listening to multiple House of the Dragon podcasts? Working on the same cross stitch pattern I started in 2019? I’m not sure, but my friend Evan, the vibrant mind behind Open Concept Agenda, mentioned this on a Zoom call and I am obsessed.

Evan’s version of fizzy coffee is an iced americano but with sparkling water added instead of flat. You can add syrups or powders but the core is the sparkling water and espresso or coffee. Here’s a great history of coffee sodas—another name for fizzy coffee-via MyRecipes, which I did not know offered content beyond recipes.

Have you had, or would you try, a fizzy coffee/coffee soda?

5. Besidewalk

I really like this portmanteau that combines “beside” and sidewalk,” which is one of several terms used to describe the strip of lawn between the sidewalk and the street in front of a house. These descriptors tend to be regional; “devil strip” is used in northeast Ohio, “boulevard” in parts of the Midwest.

This post by 99 Percent Invisible names several variations, including curb strips, sidewalk lawns, swales, sidewalk plots, park strip, hellstrip, tree belt, and furniture zone. Tag yourself: I’m hellstrip.

I assumed furniture zone was named because that’s where people set out furniture for free, but it’s actually because this is where infrastructure “furniture” often hangs out—utility poles and such. Cool fact—albeit a boring name for this odd slice of real estate. I think such a known but oft-underutilized place should have a funny or catchy name and besidewalk fits the bill for me.

What do you call the besidewalk where you live?

6. Racist Care Bear

From this tweet reply to the question, “What is your opinion of JD Vance?”

I apologize for inflicting this upon you but the sight gag is worth it, I promise.

Behold, the best response possible:

Why is this true? I’m not a scientist but maybe they should study this.

7. Mogwarts

This GQ feature about Mogwarts, an online looksmaxxing school for young men to find ways to become hotter, was both fascinating and concerning. If you’re not into clicking links here, at least click this one to read one of the most solid intros to a subculture I’ve seen.

There is a whole online trend where mostly young men try to maximize their looks (looksmaxxing) by altering their jawlines through certain exercises and using beauty creams and hair removal, etc. Dieting has also entered the chat, which is incredibly depressing. In this subculture, mogging is a way to assert dominance over less hot dudes.

Mogwarts—playfully named after the Harry Potter school—seeks to be an emotionally healthier alternative to some of the darker corners of the looksmaxxing internet. But that’s not saying much; the entire thing is built on a framework that looks are all that make a person worthy. It’s placing the entirety of diet and exercise and beauty culture onto men. There’s a lot of money to be made off of people’s insecurity. As any women can tell you, this is an expensive losing game from the get-go.

8. Poop doulas

It helps to know what a doula is to have better context for this phrase—they offer support to women during childbirth. Recently my friend Mel shared that “having a dog who has to take daily Metamucil means that we have become Poop Doulas.” Lots of loving encouragement for Miss Marple to do her thing!

I hope you added this to your LinkedIn profile, Mel.

Bonus Bit

I don’t know who made this meme but I saved it to my laptop like a weirdo. I laugh at it every time I see the tiny thumbnail on my desktop, and I thought you’d appreciate it, too.

caption...

That’s it for this week! Remember to keep making it weird, save things that make you laugh to your desktop, and stay furiously curious.