Transcript of “Starting from Scratch”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Carol in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Hi, Carol. Welcome to the show.
Well, the phrase that I’ve often wondered about is making something from scratch.
And of course, my mom must have said it to me.
And it seems like a phrase that everybody knows.
So I wondered its origin and was it ever in a certain specific area of the country and spread?
Or if you found that out about it.
When you say making something from scratch, you mean like cooking something in the kitchen?
Yes, not a meal.
I mean, I’ve always used it pretty much primarily in terms of baking,
Like saying, oh, that was made from scratch, and it’s become like a compliment,
Like, oh, you made it from scratch.
You know, you didn’t buy it in a box.
Right, right.
Well, what’s really interesting about this phrase is that it has a very, very literal origin.
It just refers to a line scratched in the ground to mark the starting point of a race.
So if you have competitors lined up at the very beginning and nobody gets a head start in the race,
Then they’re all starting from scratch.
Nobody has a special advantage or a head start.
They’re all starting from nothing.
Okay. All right.
Yeah, the original image was runners.
And you also see something similar in boxing.
It used to be that in a boxing ring, there would be a scratch or a line drawn across the ring,
And then opponents would come up to that scratch from the opposite corners to start the match.
And so they would literally come up to the scratch or come up to scratch.
And so if you’re up to scratch, you’re ready to meet your opponent.
How does that connect with baking?
So you don’t have any helps like a baking mix, like you said.
You’re just starting from the very, very beginning.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah, the baking isn’t the only place that it’s used.
Baking just happens to be someplace that we think about it.
But from scratch could be in a machine shop where you built a car from scratch,
Or it could be in a wood shop or in a farm.
You do lots of things from scratch, not just bake.
Okay.
All right.
I understand that now then.
And you’re using, yeah, the original ingredients.
Yeah, you’re not using a mix.
Right.
There’s no shortcuts.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
All right.
Well, thank you.
Sure thing.
And now you’ll think of us every time you’re baking, right?
Or if I say that to somebody, oh, I made it from scratch.
Yes.
Thank you.
Excellent.
All right.
Thanks for calling.
Take care.
Oh, you’re welcome.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
One of my reference books, I wish I had recorded which one, said,
Why wasn’t a company smart enough to make a product called Scratch so that a homemaker could honestly say that they made their cake from scratch?
Brand name Scratch.
I’m surprised nobody’s done that.
