Klaus Bung:
Turkish Delight, English Delight

Turkish delight is a popular sweet in England but, with different names, also enjoyed in many Eastern countries. In a figurative sense, derived from "Turkish delight", the word "delight" is also combined with names of many other nationalities: English Delight, German Delight, Scottish Delight, Welsh, French, Spanish delight, to say nothing of an escort girl describing herself as Indian delight.Read more below:

2010-08-26: Turkish delight, "English Delight"

one cube of English Turkish delight Not heard or read today, but I wrote it just now. It is an allusion to a sweet called "Turkish delight", which is popular in England.

Full information, see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_delight

It is known in Turkey as "Lokum", a word of Arabic origin.

I have copied the list of names in other languages from Wikipedia. Go to Wikipedia to follow up these links. The list shows how widespread this sweet is.

The name of Turkish Delight in different languages

Occasionally a Turkish girl in a chatroom will call herself "Turkish delight".

There are several people on Facebook which are using "Turkish Delight" as a nickname.

If you hear the expression " x delight ", where x stands for some nationality, then, like in the title of this page, there is a chance that this may be an allusion to "Turkish delight".

There is in fact a BBC Radio Programme with the same title which I, unwittingly, have chosen for this page, with exactly the same intention.

The presenter is "Stephen Fry". So the programme is called "Fry's English Delight". This alludes to the fact that the most popular English brand of Turkish Delight is called "Fry's Turkish Delight", after the manufacturer who first produced it in England.

The titles of many radio programmes use such puns, and I will present some of them on this page. You miss half the pleasure if you do not realise that a certain title is a pun and what it alludes to.

German Delight

This is a title of an article in a British newspaper about food in Germany.

"German delight, By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Doner kebab is Germany’s favourite fast food", published in THE STAR newspaper. The title (which would not be understood in Germany, but only the the UK) is particularly apt because "doner kebab" hails from Turkey and because Germany has a huge Turkish immigrant population.

Scottish Delight

A website about Scottish Whisky is called "Scottish Delight".

Welsh Delight

Here is a Christmas hamper sold in Wales and called "Welsh Delight"

French Delight

An academic paper is called: "French Delight in Turkey: The Impact of Turquerie on Identity Construction in Eighteenth-Century France," delivered at the College Art Association 90th Annual Conference, February 20-23, 2002, Philadelphia, PA."

All these are puns on the original term "Turkish Delight".

An article entitled "A French Delight In China’s Heart" reports about a Chinese man who learned cheese making in France and now practises his skill in China. Cheese and wine are some of the foods/drinks that France is internationally famous for. In China cheese is a bit of a novelty.

Spanish Delight

When the winner of a huge amount of money in a European lottery turned out to be Spanish, the report about it was entitled "Spanish delight" ( = Spanish happiness).

Indian Delight

You will not be surprised that an Indian escort girl working in Britain describes herself as "Indian Delight" on her website.

There are also restaurants called Indian Delight.

And so on, and so on.

Teachers tell you what to learn, IDYLL shows you how to learn it

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Klaus Bung: Turkish Delight, English Delight