Handle Popular Culture Terms with Care

Handle Popular Culture Terms with Care Handle Popular Culture Terms with Care Handle Popular Culture Terms with Care By Mark Nichol Writers and editors must exercise caution when using terms and idioms that organically develop in popular culture. A misunderstanding of meaning or implication can adversely affect the message or impact of written content, so if you’re unsure about something, take a little time to research an unfamiliar or ambiguous word or phrase online. Sometimes, a pop culture pileup occurs because an idiom takes on two or more meanings. Take, for instance, the term redshirt. The traditional definition of the noun form describes a collegiate athlete kept out of competition in their freshman year to allow them to be eligible in their second through fifth years of higher education, rather than in the usual first four years. (These students, though still permitted to train with their teams, were originally distinguished from eligible teammates by wearing red shirts.) The term, thanks to the flexibility of the English language, also came to be used as an adjective (â€Å"The team has four redshirted players this year†) and a verb (â€Å"She redshirted last season.†) Furthermore, it has recently been extended to refer to children held back from kindergarten as a purported developmental benefit. However, a new, quite distinct meaning developed from usage among the fans of a cult television series that later expanded into an extensive multimedia franchise, and the term has become correspondingly more ubiquitous. On the original Star Trek series, initially aired during the late 1960s, at least one crew member of the starship Enterprise was often killed by some extraterrestrial menace or other and that person was usually a security officer, designated by a red uniform. Therefore, fans came to refer to these expendable stock characters as redshirts. (The latest Star Trek film, released in 2009, pays tribute to that trope by foreshadowing a bit character’s fate through the color of his uniform.) As familiarity with the Star Trek universe, and as appreciation of science fiction in general, became more pervasive in our culture, the concept of futuristic cannon fodder already had a name, and now the term is used throughout the sci-fi genre. (Similarly, at least one horror movie fan site, in its reviews, refers to doomed film characters as monster chow.) Numerous other references to the phrase pertain to various political and social movements that use or used such a garment as a unifying theme, and there’s even a Red Shirt School of Photography; this derogatory term refers to the tendency among National Geographic photographers and their imitators to favor (or even stage) brightly colored subjects for dramatic visual impact. Another pop culture reference with divergent meanings (though in this case, one was hatched from the other) is â€Å"rubber chicken.† The original trope is the prop of that description used in stand-up comedy and other entertainment such as juggling, and sometimes displayed at home or at the office as a goofy sight gag. (The rubber chicken apparently evolved from inflated pig bladders used as props by court jesters.) Subsequently, the term was employed to refer to the entree served as large invitation-only events that include a meal. Because of the time constraints, numerous plates of chicken are precooked, then reheated just before serving, giving the meat a tough consistency suggestive of the comic prop. From this term, the idiom â€Å"the rubber chicken circuit† was derived to describe the milieu of events such as fund-raising dinners for political campaigning, where such food is served. The next step in the pop culture progression, I suppose, is redshirted rubber chickens. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:25 Subordinating ConjunctionsLatin Words and Expressions: All You Need to Know40 Idioms with First

Difference Between Baking Powder and Baking Soda

Difference Between Baking Powder and Baking Soda Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents, which means they are added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to rise. Baking powder contains baking soda, but the two substances are used under different conditions. Did You Know? You can  substitute  baking powder in place of baking soda (youll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you cant use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking Soda Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (e.g., yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to expand or rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes which call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat! Baking Powder Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it includes the acidifying agent already (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch). Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake recipes which include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven. How Are Recipes Determined? Some recipes call for baking soda, while others call for baking powder. Which ingredient is used depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. The ultimate goal is to produce a tasty product with a pleasing texture. Baking soda is basic and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk. Youll find baking soda in cookie recipes. Baking powder contains both an acid and a base and has an overall neutral effect in terms of taste. Recipes that call for baking powder often call for other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk. Baking powder is a common ingredient in cakes and biscuits. Substituting in Recipes You can substitute baking powder in place of baking soda (youll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you cant use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking soda by itself lacks the acidity to make a cake rise. However, you can make your own baking powder if you have baking soda and cream of tartar. Simply mix two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda. Related Reading 5 Simple Buttermilk Substitutes: Most buttermilk you buy is made using chemistry. You can make homemade buttermilk yourself by simply adding an acidic kitchen ingredient to milk.Common Ingredient Substitutions: Baking powder and baking soda arent the only cooking ingredients people run out of!How Baking Powder Works: Learn how baking soda makes baked goods rise and why its used in some recipes but not others.How Baking Soda Works: Learn how baking soda works and how this affects how quickly you need to bake a recipe once you mix it.Baking Powder Shelf Life: Baking powder doesnt last forever. Learn about its shelf life and how to test it for freshness so your recipe doesnt fall flat.