I started reading a bunch of 19th century safari books recently and it took me a while to figure out what the heck they were talking about lugging about all those "mealies". It obviously was some kind of staple food, and it finally dawned on me they were dried ears of corn.
And pronounced not quite the same either as the usual Southern African word for "an ear of maize", or the products made therefrom, e.g. "meilie meal" (1) and "mieliepap" : corn porridge / grits (2).
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Not sure if it's intentional, probably not, but mealie is also the South African colloquial word for corn. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mealie
I started reading a bunch of 19th century safari books recently and it took me a while to figure out what the heck they were talking about lugging about all those "mealies". It obviously was some kind of staple food, and it finally dawned on me they were dried ears of corn.
That’s funny I’ve only heard the term used to describe bad apples
A "mealy" apple is spelt differently https://www.thekitchn.com/food-science-what-makes-apples-957...
And pronounced not quite the same either as the usual Southern African word for "an ear of maize", or the products made therefrom, e.g. "meilie meal" (1) and "mieliepap" : corn porridge / grits (2).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mielie_meal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugali#South_Africa