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"Oatmeal" is a very confusing word to me because it's not actually "meal" (meaning "flour" in this case). There is actually a flour made out of oats, but it's n
by bronkic 8mo ago
"Oatmeal" is a very confusing word to me because it's not actually "meal" (meaning "flour" in this case). There is actually a flour made out of oats, but it's not what you would make porridge out of.
- actionfromafar 8mo agoBut it's often the first meal of the day. :)
- jfyi 8mo agoBravo. It's not often I find myself quoting Gwar, but this reminds me of "Bone meal! Better than no meal at all!"
- amenhotep 8mo agoFlour as you know it is not quite the same thing as meal milled at the time when the words were being invented. Wheatmeal is still a thing, look up images of it and the resemblance to oatmeal should be a lot more apparent!
- jimnotgym 8mo agoI would class porridge oats as what might be called 'rolled oats' if you were buying animal feed. They are not ground, but crushed under a rolling stone. I guess they have different terms for different markets. Never seen rolled wheat, but I have seen rolled barley and oats.. they looks like porridge oats. Or is it an Atlantic divide, but with the US foodie term crossing back in the food market
- adrian_b 8mo agoOriginally, "meal" was the generic word for milled grains. Already the Mycenaean Greeks, 3500 years ago, used a cognate word with the same meaning: "meleuro-". "Flour", which comes from "flower", originally meant the finest grade of meal, which was considered the best. Nowadays the usage of these words is not always consistent with their original meanings.