Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 23:05:40 -0800

From: "J.Russell King" jrking[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IX.NETCOM.COM

Subject: Re: Blinky milk etc



I checked what Atwood had

to say. As of 1950 or so, when his data were collected, BLINKY was

somewhat

less archaic than BLUE JOHN, which was decidedly archaic. CLABBER in

contrast

was universal.



In 1970 or so, when I was an adolescent, neither "blinky" (of milk that

is starting to sour but still drinkable in a pinch) nor "blue john"

(skim milk) was archaic in southern Oklahoma. Not very archaic, in the

sense that my parents used them. I never picked up "blue john" myself,

but still use "blinky." "Clabber" was a term I had heard, and knew had

something to do with soured milk, but it wasn't part of our diet and it

was well into the age of pasteurization and homogenization, so I

couldn't be familiar with just what it might specifically mean. The

distinction between "clabbered milk" as milk that has soured and

"clabber" as the chunks one retrieves from such milk (or former milk)

certainly sounds reasonable.



JRKing