Cutting Corn
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by
cyngast
moderator
On the 7th, an officer was killed while "cutting corn." I'm trying to picture this and having difficulty as I suspect this corn is not what an American thinks of as corn growing in July.
Can anyone enlighten me?
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There is an article about corn here: Maize is another word for corn, the tall-growing grain that produces yellow kernels on long ears. A small farmer might grow several different types of maize. Maize is more commonly used in Britain than in the United States to talk about corn, but most Americans recognize the word.
I have tagged diaries where troops have been helping with the harvest'
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
I'm guessing in this case they must have been clearing the area in front of their lines, in the same way we've seen mention of grass cutting in other diaries. Given that this took place in the early hours of the morning, that sounds the most likely explanation.
I think we probably understand corn in the same way - tall green plants growing edible cobs.
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David_Underdown
moderator
I suspect it's actually wheat or similar rather than (sweet)corn/maize which wasn't grown much in Europe in this period.
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
in response to David_Underdown's comment.
That's interesting. The area I used to live in in Germany was absolutely chock full of the stuff, so I always assumed it was just something we hadn't grown much of in the UK, but had probably been more of a crop on mainland Europe. Good to know.
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by
cyngast
moderator
in response to David_Underdown's comment.
That's what I thought it must be, too. Somewhere in the dim recesses of my mind, I remember a teacher saying that when the US sent food to the UK during one of the world wars, there was a request for corn. The US sent corn/maize but it turned out that what the UK wanted was wheat. I don't know if this anecdote is at all true, but it agrees with a dictionary definition I found online.
Rob, I did think they were probably clearing the stuff out of no man's land.
Marie, To most Americans, maize is the term used for the corn that Native Americans were already growing when the first Europeans started exploring and settling in North America. I grew up calling it Indian corn. It's multi-colored, with dark blue, white, yellow, orange, and red kernels all on the same ear. It's mostly used for fall or harvest-type decorations now, but I remember my mother once bought some from a farm near where we lived that made great popcorn. Actually, if you go to the Images for your link, the first photo shows what I mean.
Good sweet corn needs hot summers with warm nights to do well. That's why it grows so abundantly in the US Midwest, mainly from Ohio west through Iowa.
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