as slow as molesses in January

[ostap77]

Since I don't have the context I can't give it to you. I'd like to know the meaning of the idiom. What does it mean "molasses"?

 

[SoothingDave]

Molasses is a very thick syrup derived from sugar cane. When cold, it is even more viscous (slow to pour).

 

[ostap77]

Molasses is a very thick syrup derived from sugar cane. When cold, it is even more viscous (slow to pour).

Do you guys use this idiom?

 

[bhaisahab]

Do you guys use this idiom?

I've never heard it before.

 

[SoothingDave]

Do you guys use this idiom?

I've heard similar before.

 

[Barb_D]

Heard it, use it.

With and without the "in January" part.

You're as slow as molasses. Get a move on!

 

[Rover_KE]

I've never heard it before.

Neither have I.

 

[Barb_D]

Does the UK use molasses much? Could be why. I think it's a "New World" product more than European. The reverse of Nutella.

 

[5jj]

Does the UK use molasses much? Could be why. I think it's a "New World" product more than European. The reverse of Nutella.

No

 

[Ouisch]

I'm presuming that this idiom is used more frequently in AmE in cold-weather states; that is, areas that experience below-zero temperatures during the winter months. Growing up in Michigan, which often has bitterly cold winters, I heard "slow as molasses in January" more times than I can count, but I doubt that the phrase was used as frequently in, say, Texas or Arizona households. ;-)

 

[Barb_D]

No molasses in the UK. How sad! When you come to Philadelphia, I will bake you molasses cookies.

 

[bhaisahab]

No molasses in the UK. How sad! When you come to Philadelphia, I will bake you molasses cookies.

We do get molasses here, in health shops, being a vegetarian of long standing I use health food shops and am familiar with (and have bought) molasses. However, I had never heard the idiom.

 

[5jj]

We do get molasses here, in health shops, being a vegetarian of long standing I use health food shops and am familiar with (and have bought) molasses. However, I had never heard the idiom.

Being a carnivore of long standing, I don't frequent health food shops.

Sorry if my previous 'no' suggested that molasses were (was?) unobtainable in Britain. I was actually answering the question, "Does the UK use molasses much?" (my emphasis added).

bhaisahab's answer suggests that I am right in saying that molasses are (is?) not used much. However, the number of people using health food shops has been growing rapidly for some years now, and my answer may soon be incorrect.

 

[Ouisch]

Fivejedjon, molasses has its pockets of popularity in the US as well. It is used with much more frequency in the American South than, for example, in the Midwest (where I grew up). Nevertheless, we Midwesterners were familiar with the product (a lot of Moms used it strictly for baking in certain recipes, plus we saw it used in movies and on TV shows) so the idiom still became common phraseology in my area. (I remember seeing bottles of molasses near the maple syrup on grocery shelves while shopping with my Mom, and when I'd ask about it, she'd screw up her face in disgust and say "No, that's too thick and too sweet and you wouldn't like it." Many years later I married a man who was born and raised in Georgia, and who introduced me to the Southern tradition of molasses on freshly baked biscuits for breakfast. Oh, such satisfying, hearty deliciousness!! :up::turn-l: But I still can't convince my Mom to give it a try.)

 

[5jj]

Thank you for that, Ouisch. I gather from your molasses has its pockets of popularity in the US as well. It is used... that the noun is uncountable. The final '-s' had always made me think it was a plural word.

 

[Ouisch]

You are correct; molasses is a singular noun. :-D

 

[Barb_D]

You need to try some shoofly pie too!

My Grandma's Shoo-Fly Pie Recipe - Allrecipes.com

A staple dessert here in Pennsylvania Dutch country.

 

[Rover_KE]

We do get molasses here, in health shops, being a vegetarian of long standing I use health food shops and am familiar with (and have bought) molasses. However, I had never heard the idiom.

Isn't molasses a lot like our black treacle, bhaisahab?

Rover

 

[Munch]

A Canadian friend of mine described someone as, "slow as molasses in January."

I replied that molasses in January can travel faster than you can run and be deadly! The behaviour of the molasses in Boston that day is not what most people expect of molasses, however. It is usually regarded as one of the safer sugar by-products.

 

[Barb_D]

That reminds me of that line from Ghostbusters II - hardly the type of behavior you expect from a major household appliance.