Arnold Zwicky's Blog

A cartoon by Suerynn Lee in the New Yorker issue of 10/14/24:

(#1) We’re … we’re … like two peas in a pod!

Those peas really know their idioms.

The peapod pendant. From my 8/5/23 posting of this name, about this pendant:

(#2) Made by Georgia Morgan; a present to myself on my 83rd birthday

Symbolism of the peapod 1. For me, the peapod is a masculine symbol, a hyperbolic image of the (two) testes nestled within the protective scrotum (2 will get you 5).

But, as I point out regularly on this blog, symbols are just stuff, with no intrinsic, single meaning; a symbol can bear many different meanings, evoke many different associations, in different contexts, for different people.

Even I, with my ridiculous genital focus (I am entirely aware that my many kinks, considered dispassionately, lie on a scale from the silly to the preposterous, but they are my kinks, and I treasure them), immediately see another way of seeing the peapod symbolically.

Symbolism of the peapod 2. It turns on the idiom like two peas in a pod (from the Cambridge Dictionary on-line: very similar, especially in appearance: The twins are like two peas in a pod.) From which we get the peapod as a symbol of common humanity, of the unity of all human beings: though each of us is unique, we all share many characteristics.

Symbolism of the peapod 3. From the website Behind the Recipe — Jeri Quinzio: The stories behind recipes of the past and, sometimes, the present, “Peas symbols. Or, why peas are perfect for Valentine’s Day” …, on 1/26/22:

(#3) 10 peas in a pod

This Valentine’s Day, do something different. Forget flowers and candy. Present your lover with peas.

We may have forgotten the folklore, but for centuries, peas and pea pods (earlier called peascods) have been tiny symbols of love, romance, and fertility. Not merely a healthful food, simple side dish, or soup ingredient, peas are a rich source of stories and legends. They’re teeming with tradition.

… Both peas and pea pods had long been associated with love and marriage. Because pea pods shield little baby peas and ensure their safe delivery, businesses catering to pregnant women are often called some variation of “peas in a pod.”

According to David Moore, a nineteenth-century writer on gardening, “Peas and Peascods  are connected with wooing the lasses.” A lad would pick peapods and if the peas remained in the pod, he presented it to the lass of his choice.

… Folklore was also filled with stories about young women using peas to identify the right men.

This entry was posted on October 12, 2024 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Art, Idioms, It's Just Stuff, Language and food, Linguistics in the comics, Signs and symbols, Simile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.