Muffins
I was at a campus coffee shop this morning, and had decided to purchase a "chocolate with white chocolate chips muffin." Think black & white cookie, but in muffin form.
I commented to the cashier that muffins aren't quite what they used to be, health-wise. A very pretty girl behind me in line said "yea, they're pretty much just cake these days." I replied: "then how are muffins any different than cupcakes?"
"Well," said the girl, "it's just an ignorance thing. There is no actual difference, but who's really going to eat a 'cupcake' for breakfast?"
Touche, hot girl!
So, the logical extension of her thought is that "Muffin" and "Cupcake" are terms that denote when you are eating, and not so much what. "Breakfast" typically operates similarly, in that it doesn't so much define what you're eating, but when (in literal or relative terms, ie. in the morning, or your first meal may be breakfast, even if you sleep in until "lunch" time).
Can you have breakfast (ham & eggs & toast) at 6pm, if it it your third meal of the day? I don't think so. It's just food we normally associate with breakfast eaten for dinner. That means, logically, that if you eat a muffin at 6pm for your third meal, you're actually eating a cupcake.
"But wait a second, what if two people eat cupcakes with all identical ingredients out of the same pan, at the same time of day (6pm), but for one person it's the third meal and for the other person its his first meal? That means one's a cupcake and the other's a muffin, how can this be?"
I'm glad you asked. There is a relativity to language that we use more commonly than we think. The above situation, applied to ham & eggs, means quite conclusively that in all relevant terms, one person is eating breakfast and the other, dinner! Have you ever had to work on weekends, and say to people "it's my Friday" when it's not actually Friday? Same idea there.
I must run to class now! And after, I have to clear up my runny nose before I go for a run, then perhaps watch Hillary Clinton run for election.
I commented to the cashier that muffins aren't quite what they used to be, health-wise. A very pretty girl behind me in line said "yea, they're pretty much just cake these days." I replied: "then how are muffins any different than cupcakes?"
"Well," said the girl, "it's just an ignorance thing. There is no actual difference, but who's really going to eat a 'cupcake' for breakfast?"
Touche, hot girl!
So, the logical extension of her thought is that "Muffin" and "Cupcake" are terms that denote when you are eating, and not so much what. "Breakfast" typically operates similarly, in that it doesn't so much define what you're eating, but when (in literal or relative terms, ie. in the morning, or your first meal may be breakfast, even if you sleep in until "lunch" time).
Can you have breakfast (ham & eggs & toast) at 6pm, if it it your third meal of the day? I don't think so. It's just food we normally associate with breakfast eaten for dinner. That means, logically, that if you eat a muffin at 6pm for your third meal, you're actually eating a cupcake.
"But wait a second, what if two people eat cupcakes with all identical ingredients out of the same pan, at the same time of day (6pm), but for one person it's the third meal and for the other person its his first meal? That means one's a cupcake and the other's a muffin, how can this be?"
I'm glad you asked. There is a relativity to language that we use more commonly than we think. The above situation, applied to ham & eggs, means quite conclusively that in all relevant terms, one person is eating breakfast and the other, dinner! Have you ever had to work on weekends, and say to people "it's my Friday" when it's not actually Friday? Same idea there.
I must run to class now! And after, I have to clear up my runny nose before I go for a run, then perhaps watch Hillary Clinton run for election.
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