Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hard boiled or soft?

How do you like your eggs? Hard boiled or soft?

Nowadays I like a hard-boiled egg, but when I was a kid my mum would make me soft-boiled eggs with soldiers (everyone knows what they are, right?)

The point of this post is not the name of the strips of toast, although any comments on those are most welcome, rather the eggs themselves. The soft-boiled type for dipping were called "Chucky eggs". I am assuming that this is the correct spelling as I don't remember writing it down before. Nevertheless, chucky eggs were soft-boiled eggs, just right for dipping soldiers into.

I have found one reliable reference from Michael Quinion, who gives a different definition:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cho2.htm

Did you call them chucky eggs? Or something else?

7 comments:

  1. I remember being called "Chuck" in the same way as older people were called "Luv", by ladies in shops, on the bus and on the street. I was given "chucky eggs" as a very young child, but it was classed as baby talk. A soft boiled egg chopped up in cup with a big lump of butter was a favourite of mine, but it was referred to as an "egg in cup" to differentiate it from a soft boiled egg in an egg cup; that was just a boiled egg with soldiers. Hard boiled eggs were only for eating cold!

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    1. Yes, I've been called "Chuck", "Luv", "Cock", "Chicken", "Cock Sparrow" numerous times over the years. It's interesting to note the references to birds
      I agree that "Chucky egg" is baby talk.

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    2. I have heard of the word "Chuck" being used in various ways.It was used as an alternative word for a chicken.This wasnt just a Lancashire term though.My father in law used it and he was a yorkshireman. Also you could be "Chucked" under the chin.Ive also heard it used to mean food(or was that just in Wagon Train!) Or you could "Chuck" something out. I dont remember having boiled eggs when I was very young(perhaps that explains why I like them soft boiled now on butties)but growing up I remember any sort of egg could be called a "Chucky Egg". Like you say it was baby talk or daft talk as an adult.

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  2. I think we used to say chucky egg when we were children and chucky just meant a hen's egg rather than an egg from any other bird. I've heared the term chucks used in Australian lingo for chickens or hens; dont know if its spelled chucks or chooks.

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    1. Just going back to my last comment.I meant to say eggs cooked in any way rather than any sort of egg.

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  3. Chuckie-egg just meant an egg to me. Like pussy-cat, choo-choo-train and moo-cow, baby talk. These four examples combine a baby word with the correct word. I wonder why. I guess it just lengthens the sound and gives a baby more to "latch on" to than the single syllable correct word.

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  4. We had "chucky eggs" just as you described them, when I was little -- but I never knew if it was Yorkshire (my mum) or Lancashire (my dad); although I do seem to recollect my paternal grandfather also using the term. Thank you for proving me sane (my London-born partner thinks I've lost it completely, here...)!

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