Posts in October 27, 2023

I referred to them as “seed corn pencils” and did not think twice about it. They are pencils that were used to advertise seed corn my great-grandfather sold in the mid-20th century. To me the reference needed no further explanation. But I discovered that I am not everyone and that not everyone has my experience. I grew up on a grain and livestock farm in the American Midwest in the 1970s/1980s. I’ve know what “seed corn” is for a very long time: it’s corn that is used for seed–for planting. But not everyone has that background and when I referred to my great-grandfather’s pencils as “seed corn pencils” others did not understand the reference and thought they were some odd sort of pencils that somehow involved “seed corn.” […]