Wry about rye

I mentioned a few days ago that I was going to try to make rye sourdough bread; all proceeded well for the first couple of days but now it doesn’t smell very nice and I think I may have attracted the wrong sort of bacteria (cue images of the nice rye starter all dressed up in party clothes when along comes some naughty bacteria from the wrong side of the tracks) However, I am not totally sure whether the strong acidic smell is actually ok or not… however, I do fear not.

There is an excellent post about making sourdough, but I only discovered it after I had started… I think maybe I should chuck what I have and start again.

http://gingerandbread.com/2014/09/30/going-a-little-wild-sourdough-starter-using-wild-yeast/comment-page-1/#comment-1380

I began to wonder on the word rye, and its homonym, wry. Wry originally meant crooked or twisted, warped maybe; I guess that continues in ‘awry’ meaning not straight. We speak of a wry facial expression, meaning one features are twisted to indicate humour or irony, or maybe disapproval. However we also can use wry in a tone of voice, or a comment, and then it’s the words or the sense which is twisted or not straight.

So wry can mean:

1.  twisted, contorted, or askew especially of the face, lopsided
2. dryly humorous, or amusing, often  ironic or even sardonic.
3. facial features twisted or contorted in an expression of distaste, displeasure, dislike or disapproval.
4. the actual facial features twisted or bent to one side
5. opposing what is normally correct or right, proper, or suitable, even devious or perverse.
6. warped or misdirected

…and the origin… well as with so many words it is probably Proto-Indo-European, it probably came down to the twenty-first century through old English/Friesian/Norse into Middle English; these original words all meant bent or twisted or turned, stubborn or cricked.

However… Rye, with or without the capital means something completely different!

1. . A cereal grass (Secale cereale), the grain of this plant, the flour from the grain, or the whiskey which is made from it
2. a gypsy man (Romany Rye – novel published in 1857 by George Borrow, also the name of a pub in Dereham Norfolk)
3. the place in Sussex, a lovely seaside town. The name apparently comes from the old French le rie, meaning river bank – now la rive