September 25, 2015

Chunk.

"Chunk" is the word of the day here... for no other reason than that it's come up on its own twice: "invented something called the 'Cha-Chunker'" and "pegs in their hubs that can 'take chunks out of' the granite ledge." It's a funny word, isn't it? One thinks of "blowing chunks" or the "Goonies" boy Chunk or — if you're really old — "What a chunk o' chocolate":



The word "chunk" somehow devolved from "chuck" — the squarish cut of meat — and "chuck," like "cluck," is the English speaker's reproduction of the sound a chicken makes.

"Chunk" is a notably American word. Here are some of the quotes collected by the (unlinkable) OED:
1856   E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. i. 15   A chunk of frozen walrus-beef....
1833   J. Hall Legends of West 50   If a man got into a chunk of a fight with his neighbour, a lawyer would clear him for half a dozen muskrat skins....
a1860   New York in Slices, Theatre (Bartl.),   Now and then a small chunk of sentiment or patriotism or philanthropy is thrown in....
1894   Congress. Rec. 13 July 7445/1   Just one moment, my friend. You are a lawyer... Yes, a chunk of a lawyer.
1907   Chicago Tribune 8 May 7 (advt.)    It's really ridiculous the way we've knocked chunks off these Spring overcoat prices.
1923   P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xiii. 148   Eustace and I both spotted that he had dropped a chunk of at least half a dozen pages out of his sermon-case as he was walking up to the pulpit.
1957   T. S. Eliot On Poetry & Poets 49   Crabbe is a poet who has to be read in large chunks, if at all.

45 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

One man's chunk is another man's clod.

Meade said...

Chunk ho.

CJinPA said...

That was once on my list of potential band names: The Chunks

Meade said...

Donald J. Chunk

Meade said...

I'm just a chunk, a chunk of burning love

Ann Althouse said...

Chipmunks.

Chunkmips.

Mipchunks.

MadisonMan said...

I liked Chunky, but then I accidentally got one with raisins -- RAISINS!! -- in it.

Never bought another one.

mikee said...

Things fall apart.
Into chunks of things.
Not with a bang or a whimper.
But with a chunking sound.

Nonapod said...

I like the concept of information chunking.

rhhardin said...

Chunky candy made the mistake of being thick, which ruins the taste experience. You want thin for taste.

Try it with slices of brick cheese and see. Extra sharp chedder is a good test case.

Ann Althouse said...

"I liked Chunky, but then I accidentally got one with raisins -- RAISINS!! -- in it."

I thought Chunky always had raisins. That was the original Chunky. Maybe they de-raisinized it since it was so disgusting, but I never went near a Chunky because just the idea of chocolate with raisins tainted the brand.

Raisinettes... ever get them at Halloween? I remember them in the glass cases at movie theaters, along with that other candy that seemed to be for display purposes only: Jujubes. Did anyone buy that stuff? The only edible movie theater candy in the early 1960s was Sno-caps.

Ann Althouse said...

"The Chunky candy bar was introduced in the late 1930s by New York City candy maker, Philip Silvershein. Looking for a name for his candy bar, then made with cashews, chocolate, raisins and Brazilian nuts, he decided on Chunky, the nickname of his 'chunky' granddaughter."

tim in vermont said...

So where did hunk come from?

rehajm said...

better marketing: candy truncated pyramid or candy bar?

khematite@aol.com said...

Well, that big dumb blonde
With her wheel in the gorge
And Turtle, that friend of theirs
With his checks all forged
And his cheeks in a chunk
With his cheese in the cash
They’re all gonna be there
At that million dollar bash

Nichevo said...

What the hell is wrong with chocolate and raisins? Check your privilege. Or something.

William said...

I looked up Arnold Stang on wiki. He got his start on radio. When you think about it, his voice exactly sounds what he looks like. He wasn't sickly. He lived past ninety. Wiki gives as one of his credits a tv role where he plays a mummy who gets conned into a game of strip poker by a group of unscrupulous archeologists.

MadisonMan said...

When I was in high school, there were pure chocolate Chunky Bars. That's was I would get (if there weren't any Charleston Chews) -- until the fateful day when I got the original.

Nichevo there is nothing worse, cookie-wise, than *thinking* you're getting oatmeal chocolate chip and actually biting into -- having your teeth and tongue touch!! -- an oatmeal raisin cookie.

Charlie said...

Arnold Stang was great in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"

Quaestor said...

Macbeth is notable for its odd words and neologisms. One line has always confounded me:

Macbeth to his wife, "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck." (Act II, Scene 3)

Are we to conclude that Lady Macbeth is a bit squarish, about as broad as she is tall?

Nichevo said...

Mad, quite right, the horror beggars description; but that's not raisins and chocolate. That's raisins and concrete, or raisins and dried glue, or something. Not the poor raisins' fault. Raisinettes are superb as is the Chunky bar.

Althouse only likes what is bad. In fairness she is dying of anosmia so she should probably not talk about food at all.

Nichevo said...

Does oatmeal chocolate exist?

Quaestor said...

In defense of chocolate with raisins, isn't a Cadbury Fruit & Nut bar superior to any Hershey product?

Quaestor said...

Damn! Now I must go out and buy a chocolate bar. Immediately!

Nichevo said...

Q, that's because foreigners use real sugar in their candies, also more likely better dairy products. See UK vs US Rolos.

Quaestor said...

Chipmunks.

Members of a religious order devoted to carpentry.

Actually a variant form of chitmunk, derived from an Ojibwe word meaning squirrels.

Heartless Aztec said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ambrose said...

Quaestor/Nichevo - I believe the difference between Cadbury and Hershey is not sugar but whole milk vs. skim milk, respectively. The skim milk results in a Hershey having a slightly more sour (or less sweet) taste. Each brand this by choice and think their product is better for it.

Heartless Aztec said...

Surfers often use the word chunky as a description of waves. Usage: The waves are pretty chunky and washed out today with the onshore wind.

Meade said...

"Does oatmeal chocolate exist?

Stout.

rhhardin said...

I go for Lindt 90% chocolate bars. Start with only tiny pieces at a time, say a quarter of one of the scored sqaures. Repeat in a few hours.

Soon no other chocolate tastes any good.

Quaestor said...

As a home brewer from way back I can say there is no chocolate in stout. The "chocolate" flavor comes from caramelized oats.

Rockport Conservative said...

Have you heard of chunk as a verb? I have, we used to call them hillbillies, but the words they used were "them boys were chunkin' rocks at us." I think it is probably a southern term but maybe started much further back in the British Isles somewhere.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I like to think of Chip Ahoy as a Chunk off the old block, not just a lil Chip.

At times I am glad my mind works alone; other times not.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Chip "Chunk" Ahoy I just thought the other day.

Nichevo said...

Ambrose, that may be the dairy component I mentioned. However there is also the sugar/HFCS divide, and I am convinced there is a difference at least in texture. Corn grainy, sugar smooth.

Guildofcannonballs said...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-2_25_06_WB.html

Buckley was indeed proved correct: It Didn't Work.

My brain, perhaps brainwashed indeed, says a great part to that answer is Traitorous Democrats like in/after Vietnam.

I just don't know what to think anymore.

Snarking is funny if I get paid, and laugh at the idiots who pay me to snark them.

Without the money though? It's not so much fun laughing at all of you in front of your back.

wildswan said...

"Have you heard of chunk as a verb?"

I also heard "chunk" as verb down South. When I asked where to take my garbage when I could not wait for pickup day as I was going back to Wisconsin, I was told "Well, I would just chunk it into a mall garbage can at night"

Maybe a "chunk" is a slightly illegal throw, not just a throw.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Fitz and the Tantrums

Tell Me What Ya Here For

(Deluxe Bonus Edition)

That's all I got; ALL I GOT YO!

chickelit said...

Campbell's Chunky Chicken Soup

"So chunky you'll be tempted to eat it with a fork"
_________________

Meade wrote: Chunk Ho

Hasn't poor Rosie had enough grief?

Guildofcannonballs said...

Fools Gold

Fitz and Tantrums

Plus the Great Ann Barnhardt

And Mark Steyn now.

Looks like anonymous doucheness becomes one.

Good God I am almost 40.

I can't say I won't be back tomorrow snarkin corsely, crudeness the level of affectiveness, but by God I hope I am not.

I got me three reasons now, good ones, interacting in my dreams like dreams of an American, of Orson Welles' Chuck Foster Kane simulacrum fame dreams, saying your pedigree makes me valid.

Enough.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Test.

Doug said...

Listen to interviews with NFL coaches and offensive coordinators and they all talk about needing to get "chunk plays" in order to sustain drives - that is, run or pass plays that will get a team eight or more yards, or big chunks of yardage. Mike Pettine, Brian Billick, and others use this terminology quite frequently.

Roger Sweeny said...

wildswan, that "chunk" is the southern equivalent of "chuck"--to throw. (There was a black character in the original M*A*S*H, Spearchucker Jones.)

ken in tx said...

I spend my summers in sight of Chunky Gal Mountain, NC; Almost time to return to Texas.

BTW, they had chocolate Margarine in the Philippines when I was there in the 70s, maybe still do.