yohanan  +  91512 Tue, 19 Apr 05 04:50 PM Hellom The first three words in the following sentence sound a bit strange to me: "we strung popcorn lasting from Grandma's Christmas package of the year before". Thank you for any help. This forum is a wonderful place to get answers on these idiomatics. Yohanan yohanan Joined on Wed, Apr 13 2005 New Member 09

	pieanne  +  91519 Tue, 19 Apr 05 05:03 PM I guess Grandma gave popcorns as a present last Christmas, and they used them to make a kind of garland by stringing them unto a thread. For decoration. pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	haoqide  +  91521 Tue, 19 Apr 05 05:05 PM Hi, yohanan! That whole sentence sounds weird to me. It's not really grammatically correct. I think it should be more like, "We strung up popcorn left over from last year's Christmas package that Grandma sent us," or maybe something similar to that. Anyway, "strung" means "To thread on a string". So it sounds like they threaded some popcorn on a string to be a decoration for a Christmas tree or something. Does that help any? -Haoqide haoqide Joined on Mon, Jul 5 2004 Nashville, TN Full Member 307

	yohanan  +  91525 Tue, 19 Apr 05 05:16 PM Yes! That fits the context, though "to string up popcorn" seems rather eccentric. Being rather ignorant I wondered if this might have another -hidden- meaning. Thanks a lot ! Yohanan yohanan

	khoff  +  91539 Tue, 19 Apr 05 05:42 PM You string popcorn (not "string up"). Popcorn, not popcorns. khoff Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005 Senior Member 3,278 Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

	yohanan  +  91542 Tue, 19 Apr 05 05:59 PM Hi khoff, I agree about string vs string up (a garland), sorry for the inattention. I used to think of popcorn as the burst maize when heated - it is the current meaning of the word here in Europe. Can the word also be use for the corn (or the Maize) itself ? Thank you for the help. Yohanan yohanan

	khoff  +  91546 Tue, 19 Apr 05 06:19 PM There is a special variety of corn (maize) designed for popping, and it is different than the canned corn or corn-on-the-cob that we eat (in the U.S.) When you buy the unpopped kernels in the store, you might call it popcorn (especially "microwave popcorn"), or you might call it "popping corn" (that is, corn for popping) to distinguish it from already-popped, ready-to-eat popcorn. By the way, it is possible that the popcorn left over (rather than "lasting" as in the original quote) from last year's Christmas package from Grandma was used to cushion cookies or other fragile items - people used to use plain (not buttered!) popcorn for that purpose before the invention of styrofoam pellets. Some people still prefer it because it's better for the environment - you can eat the popcorn or feed it to the birds. This is making me hungry. --khoff By the way - we also string cranberries, sometimes alternating with popcorn. Shall we start a cranberry thread? khoff Cookies

	Madhulk  +  563113 Sat, 06 Sep 08 01:25 PM  Let me get this straight. You guys use real maize to decorate Chritmas trees or not only? Madhulk Joined on Mon, Dec 17 2007 Bulgaria Senior Member 3,177 THE MAN OF STEEL