Imagine Dragons

They are not the first band to keep the origin of their name a secret, but Imagine Dragons have definitely turned their name into a game.

They hit it big in 2013-2013 with “Radioactive” and “It’s Time,” (from NIGHT VISIONS) and naturally fans wanted to know the origin of the name.

It suggests a fantasy or children's book, but the band members have continued to say that the name is an anagram. That is a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another, such as cinema, formed from iceman.

Fans have come up with lots of possibilities by playing Scrabble with the letters. Someone even ran “Imagine Dragons” through an anagram generator and got more than 107,000 different combinations of words. How about “Adorning Images,” “A Roaming Design” or “Radioman Egg Sin?”
 
People have guessed that it was "ragged insomnia" because the band added that to their "On Top of the World" music video.

 Someone online claims that on the track "Cha-Ching (Till We Grow Older)" on the deluxe edition of Night Visions, there is a scrambled vocal that if played backward says "There is no anagram."  That one is reminiscent of the "Paul is dead" rumor/theory/meme that ran through fans of The Beatles in 1966.

The band has not confirmed or denied any guesses like "A Gemini So Grand," "Roman’s Big Angie" or "God Is in the manger."

“I really liked ‘God Is In The Manger,’” said guitarist Wayne  Sermon. “That one put me in some contemplation. The truth of the matter is all of them are better band names than Imagine Dragons. We probably should have gone with one of those.”

There is a good possibility that the whole anagram explanation is a hoax, or that the real basis for the name is not that interesting.

Lead singer Dan Reynolds has said that “We really had a phrase that we all agreed upon, and had meaning to us, particularly as artists. We just thought it would be cool to keep something to ourselves because you’re always exposing yourself as an artist.”

 

Marshmallows and S'mores

Modern marshmallows are made in a variety of colors and shapes

Most of us know the marshmallow as a candy confection. But I wondered how this sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a spongy consistency and molded into small cylindrical pieces with a corn starch coating got its name.

I had some vague recollection of marshmallow being a plant and some quick searching told me that I was correct.

The word marshmallow comes from the mallow plant (Althaea officinalis) that is a genus of an herb native to parts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia.

"Marsh" is used because the mallow plant grows in marshes and other damp areas.

We don't know exactly when marshmallow plants led to the confection. As early as 2000 B.C, Egyptians were said to be the first to make marshmallows for eating. They were considered a delicacy for gods and royalty.

The root of the plant was used as a medicinal to soothe coughs and sore throats, and to heal wounds.

The edible version was made by boiling pieces of root pulp with sugar until it thickened, then strained, cooled and shaped.

choclate-covered marshmallows

In the early 19th century, French confectioners pioneered the innovation of whipping up the marshmallow sap and sweetening it, to make a candy similar to modern marshmallow. In the late 19th century, French manufacturers thought of using egg whites or gelatin, combined with modified corn starch, to create the chewy base.

Traditional marshmallows used marshmallow root, but most commercially manufactured marshmallows instead use gelatin. Vegans and some vegetarians avoid gelatin, so there are versions which use a substitute non-animal gelling agent such as agar.

Marshmallow creme and fluff products generally contain little or no gelatin (which is used to allow the confection to retain its shape) and generally use egg whites instead.

toasted marshmallow

A popular camping or backyard tradition in the United Kingdom,] North America, New Zealand and Australia is the roasting or toasting of marshmallows over an open flame.vHeld on the end of a stick or skewer over the fire, a caramelized outer skin with a liquid, molten layer underneath can be created.

S'mores are a traditional campfire treat in the United States, made by placing a toasted marshmallow on a slab of chocolate which is placed between two graham crackers. These can then be squeezed together to cause the chocolate to start to melt.

S'more is a contraction of the phrase "some more" and one early recipe for a s'mores confection is found in recipes published by the Campfire Marshmallows company in the 1920s. there it was called a "Graham Cracker Sandwich" that was already popular with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. In 1927, a recipe for "Some More" was published in Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.

The contracted term "s'mores" appears in conjunction with the recipe in a 1938 publication aimed at summer camps.

S'more about all this at wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshmallow

Bling

Bling  (also bling-bling) is a term for expensive, ostentatious jewelry that came from the world of rap music. It evolved to mean not only that type of over-the-top jewelry but also clothing and other accessories such as cell phones or tooth caps.

The term has even been used to describe things like cars with the noun being used as an adjective, as in "That car is really blinged out." It has also devolved to sometime mean the free things given out at events, even if they are not of great value.

Linguistically, "bling" is an onomatopoeia, like buzz, meow, boing or cuckoo. Some might call it an ideophone which are words that evoke an idea in sound, movement, color, shape, or action.

Bling was meant to evoke the sound of light reflecting off something shiny, especially valuables like gold or diamonds.

Although the term came into wide usage in the late 1980s, we can go back twenty years earlier to some TV advertising, such as toothpaste maker Ultra Brite, that used a bling sound effect. In ads that said "Ultrabrite gives your mouth...[insert bling sound]...sex appeal" the sound might be accompanied by a sparkle effect on the actor's teeth.

The word "bling" was used by some comedians, such as Martin Lawrence. He parodied the "Ultrabrite smile" by and vocalized the sound effect as "bling-bling" and "bling-blauw."

The Silvertones song "Bling Bling Christmas" is sometimes noted as the earliest known usage of the term, but it was also used in rap by Dana Dane in "Nightmares" in 1987 referring to the sound effect used on cartoon shows along with gold coins, money, jewelry or gems. The term probably went more public with Cash Money Millionaires' song "Bling Bling" in 1999.