And yes, the OED confirms that in this context Bourbon takes a capital letter (it gives no reason for this; possibly the lexicographers were simply revealing their respect for a great biscuit).
American tourists must be confused by Bourbon biscuits, bourbon being a form of American whisky. But isn't it odd that while the biscuit gets a B the whisky makes do with a b, despite taking its name from (capitalised) Bourbon County in Kentucky.
And once they've recovered from the disappointment that Bourbon biscuits contain no whisky, our colonial cousins have to climb a steep learning curve as they work out that to a Brit a cookie is a type of biscuit while to an American a biscuit is a type of cake. Two nations divided by a common language? More a case of two nations divided by a common biscuit.
JD, now you know how, maybe you could find a pic of Bourbon biscuits to join the cookies?
Apus: I couldn't find a picture of Bourbonbiscuits we could use, but here's a 19th-century
bottle of bourbon instead - JD
2 comments:
Wikipedia suggests that the Bourbon biscuit takes its name from the House of Bourbon, hence the upper-case 'B'.
It also rather humorously adds that the Bourbon "is similar in construction to the circular Oreo and slightly smaller custard cream"...
I have a friend from Georgia who keeps promising to make me 'biscuits and gravy', which is apparently quite popular there. I can only imagine how wonderful it must be.
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