An elderly couple in the supermarket, staring into the freezers holding ice creams, discussing what the grandchildren might enjoy as a treat. She says:
There is that kind of ice cream with water. It’s not really ice cream though. What is it called?
Blank look from him. She frowns.
Do you know what I mean?
No, sorry, I don’t. Water ice?
Something like that. Like sorbet, or maybe slurry?
Slurry? Hardly. Do you mean Granita?
That’s it, only more common. You eat it with a spoon, I think. Or maybe you suck it.
Slush puppy?
Yes, that’s it. Slush Puppy. The children of the lower orders eat it in the street.
The man looks at the woman to see if she is serious. She is.
Ha. Conversations are so much fun to overhear. Especially the ones you share with us. Thanks for the laugh.
ReplyDeleteoh my....so does that mean her grands are of a lower order?
ReplyDeleteAh the Lower Orders.
ReplyDeleteWe wear our jeans, and style-posture like them,
but you are to understand that we are slumming!
Aloha from Honolulu, my Friko
Comfort Spiral
~ > < } } ( ° >
> < } } ( ° >
Oh, that's funny! I am so glad you got it all so you could share it with us!
ReplyDeleteI love eavesdropping! That is a good conversation. :-0
ReplyDeleteI always love the conversations you overhear!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of slush puppy but if it is something the lower orders eat… (lol). Sounds like the couple’s son or daughter married beneath themselves? Some interesting tidbits you hear there, Friko.
ReplyDeleteYes, children of the "lower orders" will do the most outrageous things. And their parents smoke and drink in public!
ReplyDeleteYou overhear some great conversations, Friko. I'm so glad you share them with us.
ReplyDeleteI love eavesdropping on such conversations! Just too funny at times!
ReplyDeleteEavesdropping is such a treat. My mother always said that 'listeners never hear good of themselves' but it is the conversation of strangers to which I am addicted. And this one that you have shared perfectly illustrates the reason for my passion. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSnippets like this are such a treat.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a slush puppy, so I must be of a Higher Order.
Of course I am!
The Great Dane, however, has been known to enjoy both Slush Puppies and Popsicles.
I've never heard about that ice-cream 'slush puppy'. The kids eat ice-cream in the street because it's enough tasty. I think it's not depends of what "order" the kids are ;0))
ReplyDeleteYou can even get a sugar free 'Slush Puppie'! But of course I've never had one sugar-free or not! ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou have a real talent for over-hearing conversations. I could imagine compiling them for a book and then I could imagine that book being a great stocking filler!
ja dat is mooi maar jij hebt de uitdrukkingen op de gezichten kunnen zien,en dat maakt het nog completer.
ReplyDeleteHa!! People of the lower order? What a phrase! Can't people be this out of touch? It is kind of sad.
ReplyDeleteHugging you
SueAnn
I'm just intrigued that he knew what she was talking about ... because to be honest I don't know what a slush puppy is.
ReplyDeleteThe children of the lower orders - there's a novel in that title somewhere
ReplyDeleteHi Friko - oh my gosh .. I can hear that couple - I run when those conversations are on the go!! Such great phrasing ... cheers (and not slurping a puppy either! - or may be it's eether?!) ... Let us know some other chatty bits you locked into ... Hilary
ReplyDeleteYou pays your money and you takes your pick :)
ReplyDeleteNever heard of a slush puppy. We have icees and slushies but you suck them up with a straw and they don't come in a freezer case. But the Lower Orders are referred to here as You People. hee hee
ReplyDeleteThat was funny to read, although some of it was in a foreign language. :-)
ReplyDeleteFriko, you've captured quite a lot in that conversation. Please do keep a notebook handy at all times!
ReplyDeletexo
That was certainly worth overhearing, Friko. I now know my place. :-)
ReplyDeleteI made a snide comment earlier and this is just a test...to see why it did not post.
ReplyDeleteIt has become frightfully difficult to avoid contact with the Lower Orders , unfortunately . They pop up everywhere these days .
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 10-12 years old, I loved slush puppies - but I haven't had one since then... Of course, I never aspired to be anything else than of the Lower Orders. I know my place.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be of the Lower Orders dear Librarian: You are a Foreigner. That is an altogether different kind of prejudicial category :-) I have never had a slush puppie. They always seemed quite expensive for what they were. I remember as a small child, as I stood in the footwell of my old dad's Austin cambridge (as always, we were the last stop for each worthy vehicle before its final resting place in the scrapyard), chewing the dashboard with our blackened milk teeth, we often saw people in new Rovers and shiny jags, and we wondered briefly what they might eat for tea (now THERE is a delineator of class!) before we chugged back home to lay our scurf-ridden scalps on the arm of the settee and wish we had a television to watch. Ahh, how authentic life was in the early 1970s for the Lower Orders!
ReplyDeleteJust out of interest, Friko:What supermarket was this?
Not sure exactly what a slush puppy is? If it's an icey beverage like a slurpy, count me in with the lower order!
ReplyDeleteCan't help feeling sorry for the grandchildren (hope they weren't served slurry!).
ReplyDeleteI thought I was a child of the lower orders (known as "those people" here), but I don't know what a slush puppy is. I'm so disappointed.
ReplyDeleteYour overheard conversation always make me giggle, but, maybe it is because I'm of the lower order. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteOh lord - what a shame class still exists!
ReplyDeleteHallo Friko,
ReplyDeletewenn ich richtig verstanden habe, gibt es solche kommunikativen Entzweiungen auch zwischen mir und meiner Frau. Frau sagt und antwortet etwas in ihrer Denkwelt und ich sage und antworte etwas in meiner Denkwelt. Irgendwann kommt der Punkt, da sage ich etwas, was nicht zu der vorherigen Frage passt (oder Frau zu meiner Frage). Da können dann solche Kombinationen zwischen "slush puppy" und "children eat it in the street" entstehen. Genial bis total lustig ist bei solchen kommunikativen Entzweiungen das Millowitsch-Theater in Köln. Da komme ich mitunter aus dem Lachen nicht mehr raus, wenn Fragen und Antworten auf zwei völlig unterschiedlichen Ebenen gegeben werden.
Gruß Dieter
Thanks for yet another great overheard conversation, Friko! You have such a talent for listening and telling a good story! I hope you have a very merry Christmas and happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteChildren of the lower orders? What on earth?
ReplyDeleteNothing better than a bright turquoise slush puppy to freeze your mouth and leave your tongue and lips looking as if you are dead!
How down-right Dickensian! Let's hear it for those rainbow-tongued slushypuppy children of the lower orders! Hip-hip hooray!
ReplyDeleteAh, the lower orders. Almost sounds sci-fi.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes love eavesdropping as well. Especially if someone is with me and we can share the laugh.
I love the ending! The children of the lower orders...
ReplyDeleteShe had me fooled too. Maybe it's something you have that we don't? :-) Dave
ReplyDeleteGosh I never heard of them, but I don't get around like I use to do. Dianne
ReplyDeleteYour ability to remember and recount these conversations boggles the mind! Thank you for your actual mail Christmas card, and hope you've received ours by now. To a great holiday season, and a wonderful 2013. Fond regards from us both.
ReplyDeleteThe children of the lower orders...Love it!
ReplyDeleteHa. I think I was a child of the lower orders. Sometimes it was fun.
ReplyDeleteHow does she know..? Gotta laugh! Christine
ReplyDeleteWoe to the children of the lower orders! Now, that was a great conversation to hear! And just as fun to share! Thanks!
ReplyDelete