OK...I've been doing too many crossword puzzles. Isn't the "Nutmeg State" one of the two nicknames for Connecticut? And isn't the other nickname the "Constitution State?" Sometimes I even impress myself!!!
I got this from a site about CT.: Nutmeg, the powder used for seasoning foods, is ground from the seed of the fruit of the Nutmeg Tree, Myristica fragans. A couple of stories exist as to the origin of this nickname. One story has it that this nickname came about as a comment on the ingenuity and shrewdness of the citizens of the state. In a story, perhaps originated by Sam Slick, it is claimed that the people of Connecticut were so ingenious and shrewd that they were able to make and sell "wooden" nutmegs to unsuspecting buyers. A variation on this story maintains that purchasers did not know that the seed must be ground to obtain the spice and may have accused yankee peddlars, unfairly, of selling worthless "wooden" nutmegs. It may be that these wooden nutmegs were whittled by idle sailors on ships coming from the spice island and sold as souvenirs.
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Here it goes...a peek into my ignorance...what is a "Nutmegger"?
OK...I've been doing too many crossword puzzles. Isn't the "Nutmeg State" one of the two nicknames for Connecticut? And isn't the other nickname the "Constitution State?" Sometimes I even impress myself!!!
Joan, you should most definitely be impressed with yourself.
Lynn, it refers to the nickname for Connecticut, the Nutmeg State
P.S. I wrote that knowing full well that you guys, who make up the bulk of my readership, aren't "fellow Nutmeggers."
;=)
I got this from a site about CT.: Nutmeg, the powder used for seasoning foods, is ground from the seed of the fruit of the Nutmeg Tree, Myristica fragans. A couple of stories exist as to the origin of this nickname. One story has it that this nickname came about as a comment on the ingenuity and shrewdness of the citizens of the state. In a story, perhaps originated by Sam Slick, it is claimed that the people of Connecticut were so ingenious and shrewd that they were able to make and sell "wooden" nutmegs to unsuspecting buyers. A variation on this story maintains that purchasers did not know that the seed must be ground to obtain the spice and may have accused yankee peddlars, unfairly, of selling worthless "wooden" nutmegs. It may be that these wooden nutmegs were whittled by idle sailors on ships coming from the spice island and sold as souvenirs.
Thanks for the lesson...now when will I ever again need to know what a "nutmegger" is?
Lynn, Just in case you ever come to Connecticut.
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