Why Do We Say Sweating Cobs?

Published by Clayton Newton on

The phrase is said to originate from Lancashire a region in England. It is believed to do with round bread (cobs) rising and sweating.

Where did the expression sweating cobs come from?

A quick search throws up this – “Sweating Cobs” (“sweating profusely”) comes from The Black Country and the industrial West Midlands. It means sweating large globules of sweat.

What does it mean sweating cobs?

My Castleford-born grandfather would refer to “a cob of coal” – a large lump, and to “sweating cobs” – sweating profusely.

Why are they called cobs?

“And ‘cob…’ That’s named after the shape as well as the size. Most bakers believe it to come from an earlier word meaning ‘lump of stuff’—like in the word ‘cobblestone.

Why do people say sweat like a pig when pigs don’t sweat?

But if pigs can’t sweat, why do we have the expression “sweat like a pig?” The term is actually derived from the iron smelting process in which hot iron poured on sand cools and solidifies with the pieces resembling a sow and piglets. Hence “pig iron”.

What does COB mean in England?

dialectal, England : a rounded mass, lump, or heap. : a mixture of unburned clay and straw used especially for constructing walls of small houses in England. 3. : a crudely struck old Spanish coin of irregular shape. often used before another noun.

What is a cob in England?

A cob is a small, round loaf of bread, or a small, round bread roll. Originally they would have been made with four simple ingredients: whole wheat flour, water, salt and some ‘sponge’ that provided the yeast to make the bread rise.

Is cob an old word for spider?

Cob as a word for “spider” had some use in the 17th century in certain dialects, but it was obsolete before J. R. R. Tolkien unearthed it in The Hobbit in 1937.

Is cob a slang word?

What does COB mean? COB stands for “close of business.” It refers to the end of a business day and the close of the financial markets in New York City, which define U.S. business hours. It’s used in business communications to set a deadline for a task to be completed by 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

What do Yorkshire call cobs?

Yorkshire has three popular names with bread-cake, tea-cake and scuffler all in use. Over the Peninnes, barm cake and cob are the words used in the bakeries of Liverpool and Lancashire. Across the Midlands, you are likely to find people using the word batch to describe a bread roll.

What do northerners call cobs?

All around the UK, from North Wales, north Norfolk and the northwest to northern Scotland and the East Midlands, you’ll often hear a bread roll called a cob. Locals claim it’s the original word to describe a roll, used for hundreds of years in farming and by the nation’s unofficial bread expert Paul Hollywood.

What do pigs do instead of sweating?

Pigs do not sweat but they are able to rid themselves of heat in other ways such as via their skin and through respiration. Because an animal does not sweat does not mean toxins build up in the body. Most pigs are fed highly balanced, nutritionally fortified diets and are kept in climate controlled facilities.

Why are pigs considered dirty?

Despite their reputation, pigs are not dirty animals. They’re actually quite clean. The pig’s reputation as a filthy animal comes from its habit of rolling in mud to cool off. Pigs that live in cool, covered environments stay very clean.

What is the sweatiest animal?

Sweating is an adaptation that helps some animals cope with heat but it is relatively rare. Horses have the most efficient sweating and cooling system with humans coming in second. While donkeys and zebras can sweat, they only sweat heavily when under high stress or pain.

Where did cob originate from?

The Norman Cob or Cob Normand is a breed of light draft horse that originated in the province of Normandy in northern France.

Where in England do they say cob?

The term cob is particularly popular in some sections of the Midlands, with it being the preferred term among a majority of people in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, as well as smaller minorities in the West Midlands metropolitan county (in the 20-29% bracket), Staffordshire and Worcestershire (in the

What is a cob in Scotland?

Cob is an ancient earth building technique using a combination of clayey subsoil, sand, straw and water. These materials are mixed together either manually, by stomping or dancing on the mix on tarpaulins, or with machinery.

Who invented cobs?

Our Beginnings. COBS Bread is part of Bakers Delight, an Australian bakery franchise established in 1980 by Roger and Lesley Gillespie. Since expanding from a multi-generational family business, we’ve grown to over 700 bakeries in communities around the world, including 145 bakeries across Canada.

What do the Scottish call a bread roll?

While ‘bun’ means ‘bread roll’ in the northern British Isles, the Scots use the term to mean a very rich fruitcake, Blaxter said. Alternatively, ‘bun’ can also refer to a diminutive version of a cupcake, minus the frosting.

Why is a cobweb called a cob?

So the cob in cobweb comes from the abbreviation of a word that meant “spider.” But from a stricter analysis of the roots, cobweb is more accurately “head-web,” or perhaps, for fans of Spider-Man, “web-head.” Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Where are spiders called cobs?

Cob, or coppe, is the Old English term for spider. It has a cognate in koppe from Middle Dutch. Cob + web = spider web. Bonus fun fact: The word “spider” shares the same root as the word spin, from its method of producing silk for its web.

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