Three Syrups
This morning, I sat down to breakfast which today was waffles. My hands found themselves around a bottle of a brown semi-translucent…syrup. Waffle syrup. I unscrewed the lid and poured myself a small pool of it right next to my waffles.
Now, what exactly is waffle syrup? It’s…um…what is waffle syrup exactly? Well let’s see what maple syrup is. Maple syrup comes from trees…does waffle syrup come from waffles? And along the same lines, does cough syrup really come from coughs?
Well, no. The logic behind the name waffle syrup isn’t the same as the logic behind maple syrup. Waffle syrup’s name is based on what waffle syrup does, rather than what waffle syrup is and cough syrup’s like that too. Waffle syrup is intended for waffles like cough syrup is intended for coughs.
What if we applied this style of thought to all food? What if we called bananas “potassium sticks”, carrots “eye maintenance root” and apples “flavored bodily fuel”? That would suck. So what’s the deal with waffle syrup and cough syrup? Why are we cool with the logic of their names but we’re not cool with it applying it to all foods?