Macaroni

Macaroni /ˌmækəˈroʊni/ is a variety of dry pasta in the shape of narrow tubes originating from Italy and made with durum wheat, usually without egg. It is normally cut in short lengths; if cut in lengths with a curve it is usually called elbow macaroni. Some home machines can make macaroni shapes but, like most pasta, macaroni is usually made commercially by large-scale extrusion. The curved shape is caused by different speeds on opposite sides of the pasta tube as it comes out of the machine.

In North America, macaroni most often comes in elbow shape, while in Italy the noun maccheroni refers to straight tubular square-ended pasta corta ("short-length pasta").

Etymology

The name comes from Italian maccheroni [makkeˈroːni], plural form of maccherone. In Italy, the noun has a lot of variants and they sometimes differ from each other because of the texture of each pasta: rigatoni and tortiglioni, for example, have ridges down their length, while chifferi, lumache, lumaconi, pipe, pipette, etc. refer to elbow-shaped pasta similar to macaroni in the American culture.

Boogie

Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm,"groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded boogie-woogie song was in 1916. By the 1930s, Swing bands such as Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Gerald Martin, and Louis Jordan all had boogie hits. By the 1950s, boogie became incorporated into the emerging rockabilly and rock and roll styles. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s country bands released country boogies. Today, the term "boogie" usually refers to dancing to pop, disco, or rock music.

History

The boogie was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music and adapted to guitar. Boogie-woogie is a style of blues piano playing characterized by an up-tempo rhythm, a repeated melodic pattern in the bass, and a series of improvised variations in the treble. Boogie woogie developed from a piano style that developed in the rough barrelhouse bars in the Southern states, where a piano player performed for the hard-drinking patrons. Wayne Schmidt remarks that with boogie-woogie songs, the "bass line isn't just a time keeper or 'fill' for the right hand"; instead, the bassline has equal importance to the right hand's melodic line. He argues that many boogie-woogie basslines use a "rising/falling sequence of notes" called walking bass line.

Lyrics

Lyrics are words that make up a song usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, as a "librettist". The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of expression.

Etymology

"Lyric" derives via Latin lyricus from the Greek λυρικός (lyrikós), the adjectival form of lyre. It first appeared in English in the mid-16th century in reference, to the Earl of Surrey's translations of Petrarch and to his own sonnets.Greek lyric poetry had been defined by the manner in which it was sung accompanied by the lyre or cithara, as opposed to the chanted formal epics or the more passionate elegies accompanied by the flute. The personal nature of many of the verses of the Nine Lyric Poets led to the present sense of "lyric poetry" but the original Greek sense—words set to music—eventually led to its use as "lyrics", first attested in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Stainer and Barrett used the word as a singular substantive: "Lyric, poetry or blank verse intended to be set to music and sung". By the 1930s, the present use of the plurale tantum "lyrics" had begun; it has been standard since the 1950s. The singular form "lyric" still appears; its present use, however, is to refer to a specific phrase within a song's lyrics.

Gummy bear

A gummy bear (German: Gummibär) is a small, fruit gum candy, similar to a jelly baby in some English-speaking countries. The candy is roughly 2 cm (0.8 in) long and shaped in the form of a bear. The gummy bear is one of many gummies, popular gelatin-based candies sold in a variety of shapes and colors.

History

The gummy bear originated in Germany, where it is popular under the name  Gummibär  (gum or gummy bear) or in the endearing form  Gummibärchen  ([little] gum or gummy bear), gum arabic was the original base ingredient used to produce the gummy bears, hence the name gum or gummy. Hans Riegel, Sr., a confectioner from Bonn, started the Haribo company in 1920. In 1922, inspired by the trained bears seen at street festivities and markets in Europe through to the 19th century, he invented the Dancing Bear (Tanzbär), a small, affordable, fruit-flavored gum candy treat for children and adults alike, which was much larger in form than its later successor, the Gold-Bear (Goldbär). Even during Weimar Germany's hyperinflation period that wreaked havoc on the country, Haribo's fruit-gum Dancing Bear treats remained affordably priced for a mere 1 Pfennig, in pairs, at kiosks. The success of the Dancing Bear's successor would later become Haribo's world-famous Gold-Bears candy product in 1967.