Fans of The Great British Bake Off (known in the U.S. as The Great British Baking Show because of a trademark issue) know that you don’t want your baked goods to be stodgy or claggy. The verb to stodge, meaning “to stuff,” goes back some 400 years and stodgy eventually came to describe something “heavy” or “bogged down.” Today, stodgy also describes a curmudgeonly person who’s set in their ways. Claggy is likely from Norse, and shows up in Scotland and Northern England to mean things like “messy,” “mucky,” or “clotted,” and is likely a linguistic relative of words involving sticky things, such as clay. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Stodgy and Claggy”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Alexis calling from Maryland.
Hey, Alexis, welcome.
What can we do for you?
Oh, I’m so excited to be here.
Okay, so I have a food-related question, which I know is a popular talker.
Yes.
So it’s actually two words, so I hope I’m not stretching,
But I’m a pretty religious viewer of the Great British Baking Show, if you’re familiar.
Oh, sure. Yeah.
Yeah. And so they use a lot of words.
And of course, because it’s British, some of the words I’m unfamiliar with as an American English speaker.
The two words in particular that they use quite often are stodgy and claggy.
And as far as I can understand from context clues, I believe they are referring to something related to texture.
But what that texture is is unclear to me.
I can sense that it is a negative feeling, though.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, if Paul Hollywood tells you your cake is stodgy,
You’re not happy, right?
No, not at all.
Well, does he ever say anything positive?
That’s my question about Paul Hollywood.
It’s very few and far apart, but on occasion he does.
Right, and then you walk proudly with your chest out,
Like strutting.
And if you get a handshake, oh, my goodness.
You don’t wash it for days, right?
Absolutely.
So stodgy and claggy.
So everyone probably has heard stodgy before.
We probably think of talking about old man as being stodgy, somebody who’s stuck in their ways.
Does that sound familiar, Alexis?
So that would be, I’ve never heard it outside of the food content.
Oh, you haven’t.
Okay.
Yeah.
No.
I think that’s how I know stodgy.
Martha, is that familiar to you?
It was new to me when I started watching The Baking Show.
I always thought of Stodgy as some curmudgeonly person who just was, as you said, set in their ways.
Yeah, and that’s kind of what’s happening here because it’s an ancient word, well, at least 400 years,
That meant back then to stuff, well, the verb to stodge meant to stuff or to cram,
Which over time came to mean to overstuff or to overcram.
And then after a while, it came to mean to work steadily or to trudge,
Like to trudge through snow or a lot of debris.
And then it came to mean to bog down.
And so I haven’t heard the hosts and the judges on the show use the word,
But I wouldn’t be surprised if when they use stodgy,
They’re talking about the overall baked good being kind of bogged down or overcome by a particular ingredient.
Does that sound right?
Yeah, I think that does make sense.
Like, for example, if a pie is overstuffed and the crust is not getting enough love on the palate, maybe.
Yeah, that was good.
Or I was thinking of those one episode I saw where like somebody was a little over fond of the rum in their rum cake.
They just got put it on.
Yeah, definitely.
And claggy is a superb word that has a very fine pedigree.
And it’s likely from Norse, believe it or not.
And like a lot of the Norse words that are in English, it shows up in Scotland in the north of England,
Where you can find verb and adjective forms of it.
And it has a lot of meanings, but they all associate with messy or mucky or sticky or clotted or bleary.
And surprisingly, even though claggy sounds a bit like the word clog, it’s probably not related.
Instead, it’s probably related to the word clay, C-L-A-Y.
And it’s probably related to Scandinavian words, meaning sticky mud.
So I really do like the fact that we’ve got this ancient word from Norse of all things.
We’re talking Vikings being used on a modern television show about baking.
How cool is that?
That’s super cool.
And I just, yeah, I love that show and I love your show.
And yeah, thank you for enlightening me on these two words, because as you can imagine,
I, you know, when you don’t understand what they’re saying, it can be, you know, quite
Confusing, especially when you have a feeling it’s something negative.
So now I know if anyone comments about my baking that it’s dodgy or claggy, that is
Not a good thing.
And I’ve done something wrong.
But I think the negatives on that show, even when the words aren’t immediately comprehensible,
Even through context.
That’s the joy of that show is it’s so wrapped up in charm and understanding,
And there’s just so much support from the participants and the judges and the host.
And that’s what makes that show work, I think.
Absolutely.
I call it my happy show because if ever I’m feeling sad,
I just turn it on and it brightens my mood immediately.
And it’s about food.
All right.
Well, thank you, Alexis, for spending some time with us.
We really appreciate it.
Yeah, we’re sending you off with handshakes.
Yes, we are.
Great question.
Thank you.
I feel it.
And a soggy bottom rum cake.
Bye-bye.
Take care.
Bye.
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