Comments on: The Social Construction Of Prunes

By: Re-Branding the Prune » Sociological Images

Re-Branding the Prune » Sociological Images — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:02:00 +0000

[...] Prunes are dried fruit you serve to old people who need help with their bowel movements (though, hilariously, it wasn’t always that way). This is epitomized by the Sunsweet slogan, “The Natural Way to Go” and illustrated [...]

By: Let’s Have A Prune Party! | The Baffled Blog

Let’s Have A Prune Party! | The Baffled Blog — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:16:40 +0000

[...] Let’s Have A Prune Party! 2009 September 24 by quitebaffled via thesocietypages.org [...]

By: Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:36:45 +0000

Does that say “fairly bursting?” I’m not sure something can be “fairly” bursting, but okay ;)

By: CParis

CParis — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:36:51 +0000

Like some of the other posters, I have always liked the taste of prunes, the sweetness and chewy texture. I always worried about eating more than a few because they were so identified as something “old folks” ate to keep “regular.

By: macon d

macon d — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:09:53 +0000

A prune party! Man, I love this blog. The things I learn here.

I guess contemporary prunish connotations have been totally installed in my imagination, because I find that ad hilarious.

By: sue

sue — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:27:20 +0000

Attempts to market prunes to the masses continue apace. Surely you’ve seen the TV ads for the individually wrapped sunsweet prunes currently on TV?

By: Kelle

Kelle — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:25:19 +0000

There was a whole thing from Victorian times up until the 50s about constipation causing all sorts of maladies in children. Go through old magazines and there’s plenty there on how to be regular, etc. Prunes were of course popular for aiding regularity. I mean today we have Metamucil and Benefiber, etc, but the fecal obsession of years past was certainly something.

By: Rhys

Rhys — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:30:38 +0000

I had an uncle who was a long haul trucker. He’d get ‘stopped up’ every so often from eating at greasy spoons like Flying J. One day he called my mom and told her he was coming by after dropping a load (no pun intended there) but had to stop and get something to drink first. My mom decided to play a prank and told him to get some prune juice. My uncle wasn’t aware of the ‘medicinal properties’ so he downed a good half gallon of the stuff. Needless to say he was happy to arrive at her house and embrace the porcelain. He thanked her for the tip after the dignity of his britches was guaranteed, though.

By: Julia

Julia — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:39:16 +0000

They must have had un-glamorous connotations even in Virginia Woolf’s day, or she wouldn’t have complained so much in “A Room of One’s Own” that women’s colleges served custard and prunes and stringy beef instead of the feasts served at men’s colleges.

“And if any one complains that prunes, even when mitigated by custard, are an uncharitable vegetable (fruit they are not), stringy as a miser’s heart and exuding a fluid such as might run in misers’ veins who have denied themselves wine and warmth for eighty years and yet not given to the poor, he should reflect that there are people whose charity embraces even the prune.”

By: Nique

Nique — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:17:36 +0000

AG, prunes are in Dr. Pepper?
I like prunes, they’re yummy. I am always worried about eating too many and giving myself diarrhea, though.

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:11:51 +0000

I find the title of this post to be unbelievably amusing. Though I’m not convinced of the deliciousness of prune whip, especially judging from the expression of the girl on the right.

By: AG

AG — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:43:16 +0000

When I was at a conference in Ireland last month, the American contingent had to spend 10 minutes explaining ‘what’s wrong with prunes’ to the locals after somebody made an offhand comment about the ingredients of Dr. Pepper.

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:35:22 +0000

I’ve always liked prunes. I remember my grandmother tried to dissuade me from eating them once (she was worried I’d get diarrhea), which probably just made me like them more.

By: yikes

yikes — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:04:45 +0000

loved ‘em when i was a (regular) kid in the 70′s, love ‘em now.

By: Asa

Asa — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:42:26 +0000

Oh, sure. My favorite prune whip recipe.