What is pudding in this sentence / context ?

[duiter]

Dear all,

What is pudding in this sentence / context ?

'' Reagan’s “seemingly slapdash Islamic pudding turned out after all to have a theme,” says Bacevich ''

see paragraph # 10

In short, by the time Reagan departed office, “the skids had been greased: the national security bureaucracy was well on its way to embracing a highly militarized conception of how to deal with the challenges posed by the Middle East.” Reagan’s “seemingly slapdash Islamic pudding turned out after all to have a theme,” says Bacevich


OpEdNews - Article: Bush "Preventive War" Doctrine Fails In Iraq

 

[sato]

'Pudding' is a synonym for 'dessert' - the last course of a meal.
My guess is that they are using the word metaphorically to mean an action near the end of his presidency, or near the end of some other larger action.

 

[Johnson_F]

'Pudding' is a synonym for 'dessert' - the last course of a meal.
My guess is that they are using the word metaphorically to mean an action near the end of his presidency, or near the end of some other larger action.

You could be right, sato, though I believe that it has the idea of 'a mixture of all sorts of ingredients (=ideas)'. It could have been described in this way because people thought that there was no consistent idea behind it. Now, however, it has ' turned out after all to have a theme'

 

[Tdol]

From the article, I think it's more the idea of him appearing to throw things together rather than the timing.

 

[BobK]

You could be right, sato, though I believe that it has the idea of 'a mixture of all sorts of ingredients (=ideas)'. It could have been described in this way because people thought that there was no consistent idea behind it. Now, however, it has ' turned out after all to have a theme'

:up: Another expression he might have used is the Yiddish 'mish-mash' (mispronounced, of course, in Br English, with an /æ/).

b

 

[Ouisch]

In AmE, "pudding" is a very specific dessert item, it is not used to generically describe the dessert course as it is in BrE. So I agree that in this case "pudding" refers to the mixture of ingredients (or policies/tactics, in this case) rather than the timing.

 

[BobK]

In AmE, "pudding" is a very specific dessert item, it is not used to generically describe the dessert course as it is in BrE. So I agree that in this case "pudding" refers to the mixture of ingredients (or policies/tactics, in this case) rather than the timing.

That usage is dying out in Br Eng. My generation use it, but not my children. As often, Australian English, while vibrant and innovative in many ways, is quite conservative in others.

b

 

[sato]

That usage is dying out in Br Eng. My generation use it, but not my children.

I think BobK makes an additional point with that. The original question was regarding a description of the policies of President Reagan, so we need to be mindful not of current use of the word 'pudding' but the way it was used in the time of Reagan.

I'm interested to hear from some of our American commenters, what exactly is pudding? In Australia it's similar to a cake, but full of dried fruit, and usually served hot. In Japan it's a smooth, creamy dessert, like custard.