Transcript of “Why Do Dessert “Icing” and “Frosting” Sound Cold?”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Mira.
Hi, Mira. Where are you calling from?
New Hampshire.
New Hampshire. Well, welcome to the show.
Mira, you sound like one of our younger listeners.
How old are you?
Ten and a half.
Ten and a half. That half makes a difference.
Well, again, welcome to the program.
What can we do for you?
So, why are the words icing and frosting related to cold?
Okay. You mean like the icing or frosting that you would put on a dessert, like a cupcake or a cake?
Yeah.
What made you think about this?
I don’t know. I think it was when I was making a cake.
Ooh, what kind?
Vanilla.
Vanilla. That’s good.
Vanilla cake. Vanilla on the inside and the outside?
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, what do you call it? Do you call it icing or frosting, that sweet, creamy stuff you put on top of the cake?
Usually frosting.
That’s interesting. And you’re in New Hampshire, right?
Right now, yeah.
Okay.
Are you usually in New Hampshire?
Maryland.
Maryland, okay.
Maryland, okay.
Here’s the thing, Mira.
The words icing and frosting in this case aren’t about the temperature.
They’re about what they look like.
Because, you know, when you spread that on the cake, it sort of looks like frost.
And generally, people think of icing as something that is a little bit less dense than frosting.
Frosting tends to be thicker and creamy.
Have you ever had carrot cake?
No, but my mom has.
Oh, huh.
And that kind of frosting is really creamy.
It’s really, really thick, as opposed to what some people think of icing, which is thinner.
And actually, have you ever had a glazed donut?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, the glaze is a whole other idea that’s similar to that.
That was used even earlier.
A glaze looks like it’s kind of glassy.
And so it’s about what it resembles rather than the temperature.
Does that make sense?
Mm—
Mira, thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with us and sharing your question.
Thanks.
All right.
Take care of yourself and give our best to your mom.
Bye.
There’s another term that you might hear occasionally in the U.S. South, and that’s filling.
Even when it’s on top of the cake or the cupcake.
Mmm, mmm, yeah, filling.
And I forgot to mention that in parts of the middle of the country, sometimes people call icing calf slobber.
I’ve never heard that.
That’s the other end of the formal spectrum from glacé, which is the fancy term for thin icing, glacé.
That’s toll-free in the United States and Canada.
We love hearing from our listeners of all ages.
Regardless of how important you think your question is, we will take it seriously.
You can also send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.
