The language of biscuits - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC

Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Rob.

In this programme, we're talking about biscuits!

Biscuits - a subject very close to my heart -

something important to me and that interests me.

I know, Rob. You are a biscuit connoisseur after

all. And in the UK, many of us love to nibble

on these sweet treats. And we have lots of

names for them too.

Yes, we have the chocolate digestive, the

garibaldi, the custard cream and the jammie

dodger. It's making my mouth water.

I can see. But we're not going to be

tucking into any biscuits today.

Instead, we'll be looking at the origins

and the language of this humble

snack. And before we do that, Rob,

let's test your knowledge of biscuits

with a question. The British aren't the

only fans of biscuits. So in which country

are barazeks traditionally eaten?

Is it in... a) Syria, b) Morocco, or c)Spain?

Hmmm, well, I have not eaten one, but I'll

have a guess at Syria.

OK, I'll reveal the right answer later on.

But now, let's talk more about biscuits,

also sometimes known as cookies.

They come in all shapes, sizes

and varieties.

They can be sweet or savoury - but

I prefer the sweet ones that are crisp,

crunchy and are good for dunking

in my tea. 'Dunking' means dipping into

liquid for a short period of time.

But enough about your eating habits,

Rob. Let's find out how the biscuit got

its name. It's something the BBC

Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth has

been exploring. Dr Laura Wright, a

historical linguist from the University of

Cambridge, explains its origins...

From Latin 'biscoctum' - twice cooked.

And it comes to us via Anglo-Norman French,

but it's bread that's been cooked twice to

extract all the moisture so that it goes hard,

and it'll stay fit for consumption for a

long time, which is why you can take it to sea

and have a sea biscuit... and from the

1500 at least we spelt it like it sounds 'bisket'

but at some point, in the 1800, we started to

prefer the French spelling for

reasons of poncy-ness!

So, the English word for biscuits has its origins

in Latin. It describes cooking bread twice to

make it hard. This baking process meant a

biscuit could be kept for a long time, and as

Dr Wright said, it would stay fit for consumption

- another way of saying edible or able

to be eaten.

That's why they were taken on long

sea voyages - but they weren't like the

biscuits we eat now - they were plain,

simple and very hard baked.

Interestingly, the word biscuit used to

be spelt B-I-S-K-E-T but the French

spelling B-I-S-C-U-I-T was later adopted.

Biscuits are a handy go-to snack for

when I'm hungry or bored. But how

did biscuits become such a popular

foodstuff and how did we come to

depend on them so much?

It's something Anastasia Edwards, author

of Biscuits and Cookies, A Global History,

talked about in the Word of Mouth

programme. Listen to the word she uses

to mean 'food' in her explanation.

One key fact in the rise in the popularity

of the biscuit is meal times. Before the

Industrial Revolution, people have a later

breakfast and earlier supper. By the

end of the Industrial Revolution,

breakfast is much earlier, the

evening meal is much later, so you've

got this big gap of time where people

need sustenance, and so lunch comes

to greater prominence and tea time

comes to greater prominence, and

snacking - so there's this great

opportunity for biscuits - something

small, something ready, something

easily consumable, not expensive,

you know, a bit of a sugar rush.

Right, so it was the Industrial Revolution

that led to the rise - that's the increase -

in the popularity of biscuits. Because

the time between breakfast and dinner

in the evening increased, people got

hungry and they needed food to give

them energy - what Anastasia

called 'sustenance'.

So, this is when smaller meals, such as

lunch or tea, became important or

more well-known - it had greater

prominence. And this included snacking

on biscuits. These were cheap and

easily consumable - easy and

quick to eat. And because of their

ingredients, they gave you a

sugar rush - a quick blast of energy.

Of course, now, we eat biscuits

at any time, and because of their

sugar content, we know to only eat

them in moderation Rob!

I think a packet a day is fine - but

a whole box, well, that would

really take the biscuit!

Take the biscuit! Good idiom

there, Rob, to mean 'be the most foolish,

annoying or surprising thing to do'.

But now let s find out the answer to

my quiz question. Earlier, I asked

which country are barazeks

traditionally eaten in?

And I thought Syria. Was I right?

Yes, you were. Well done.

You are a smart cookie! Barazeks

are biscuits filled with roasted sesame

seeds and pistachio chips.

They sound delicious. I would love to try some.

OK, well we've been discussing the

language of biscuits and mentioned

some of these words. 'Dunking' describes

dipping something, like a biscuit, into

liquid for a short period of time.

Describing something as being fit

for consumption means it is edible -

which is another one of our words

and means 'it can be eaten'.

'Sustenance' is another word for food.

And something that has 'prominence'

is important or more well-known.

And when you get a 'sugar rush', you

get a quick blast of energy from,

unsurprisingly, eating something

containing lots of sugar.

OK, well, we only get six minutes for

this programme - that's the way the

cookie crumbles - so we're out of time.

Bye for now.

Goodbye.