The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep: The Friday Quiz: This Morning at Four-Fifty

OK, it was actually five-forty when we were so rudely snatched from slumber by the earliest-rising Wombat. But I wanted to get a Squeeze reference in somehow, as the reason we are so particularly foggy this morning is that the unthinkable happened last night; our actual attendance at a bona fide live music performace, sans any rendition of "Polly Wolly Doodle." As a very belated birthday present for T., we saw Squeeze on their current reunion tour (Glen Tilbrook was in excellent voice and all seeming happy as hell to be playing a crowd-pleasing raft of familiar hits. Quite the sing-along fest. We're definitely advancing into fogeyhood if this is our big night out, but a good time was had by all).

So, the overhang looms a bit over the Quiz this morning, but as caffeine, H2O and NSAIDs do their work, here's a bit of a quizlet for you:

It's obtained from Boswellia sacra; in many ancient texts, it is called "olibanum," a name apparently derived from the Arabic for "milking." It was also known in another language as "levonah." Curiously, the name we best know the substance by is likely derived from the name of the ethnic group who were credited with re-introducing the substance to Europeans in the medieval era.

By what name do we know this substance? For a bonus point, what song did Squeeze open with -- and which made me think of this?

First correct answer posted to comments wins a reasonable percentage of a freezer-sized Ziploc bag full of mostly-broken crayons, once they've been picked up (again) off of the floor. Don't put them in your mouth. I said no. No Googling or deriding fogey-centric reunion concerts. One guess per comment, please, but comment with joy, ferocity, and frequency.

Comments

pineapple juice

Posted by: shananan | August 3, 2007 08:32 AM

Syrup?

Posted by: art | August 3, 2007 09:05 AM

Black Coffee and Cigarettes (and syrup)

Posted by: art | August 3, 2007 09:07 AM

coconut

Posted by: james | August 3, 2007 09:24 AM

Quinine, In Quintessence?

Posted by: herbivorous | August 3, 2007 09:30 AM

Attacking my Squeeze hunch from the rear, I can see something having to do with essence and Essenes, but my guess is without substance.

Posted by: herbivorous | August 3, 2007 09:33 AM

nope!

Posted by: BT | August 3, 2007 10:06 AM

absinthe! (from the absinthians, of course)

Posted by: art | August 3, 2007 10:14 AM

What's that explosive that's made from pee? Phosphorus?

Anyway, if I hadn't gone to bed at 2:11 and risen at 4:42, I might be able to remember it. I'll expect my induction notificaiton from the Royal Society of Overtaxation and Insomnia directly.

Posted by: bootsy3000 | August 3, 2007 11:04 AM

aloe vera?

Posted by: james | August 3, 2007 11:15 AM

Gypsum.

Posted by: boxjam | August 3, 2007 12:29 PM

Hashish? From the Hashians- Haitisheesh-ferget it

Posted by: shananan | August 3, 2007 12:33 PM

halvah?

Posted by: shananan | August 3, 2007 12:34 PM

Myrrh. From the Murrays.

Posted by: shananan | August 3, 2007 12:35 PM

alum?

Posted by: james | August 3, 2007 12:58 PM

juice?

Posted by: herbivorous | August 3, 2007 01:00 PM

Milk of magnesia.

Posted by: boxjam | August 3, 2007 01:18 PM

mussels, aka pulling from a shell

Posted by: james | August 3, 2007 01:22 PM

Nothing yet...one that's kind of close...

Posted by: BT | August 3, 2007 01:25 PM

Frankincense.

Posted by: boxjam | August 3, 2007 02:26 PM

Meaning that Squeeze opened with 'We Three Kings of Orient Are'?

Posted by: herbivorous | August 3, 2007 02:55 PM

Or did they open with Vanity Fair? She comes home with another screw loose/She swears to have had just a pineapple juice.

Isn't pineapple Boswellia-something? Or is that Bromelain? Derr. I believe in Boxjam.

Posted by: shananan | August 3, 2007 04:48 PM

gum arabic

Safe bet they didn't open with Cool for Cats.

Posted by: Jonathan | August 3, 2007 05:51 PM

laudanum?

it's been 22 years since herby and I saw Squeeze

Posted by: art | August 3, 2007 08:12 PM

Cocoa, If I Didn't Love You

Posted by: Scraps | August 5, 2007 05:49 PM

I'm back after a crazed weekend highlighted by an excursion to the wilds of New Jersey, where vicious weiner dogs roam and splintery backyard decks threaten the skin of innocent crawlers.

So distracted was the Wombat that I've had no chance to check in until now. But victory, thy name is Boxjam -- "Frankincense" is the answer we were looking for. Frankish Crusaders, returning from Palestine, were credited with re-introducing the aromatic botanical back to Europe, after knowledge of it was apparently lost in the post-Roman Empire period.

The song that inspired my question? "I've come across the desert/To greet you with a smile/My camel looks so tired/It's hardly worth my while..." I realize that "Take Me I'm Yours" never explicitly mentions frankincense, but the whole caravan-camels theme brought various ancient trade items to mind.

Posted by: BT | August 6, 2007 10:09 AM

The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

The Wombat File is a Delaying Tactic that May Save Your Life

The Friday Quiz: This Morning at Four-Fifty

Comments

Post a comment