Saddleworth2
Well-Known Member
Barmcake is an almost exclusively north west/Lancashire word, and as such it should be respected. There are of course regional variations, but the thing that traditionally separated a barmcake from its pale imitators was the fact that the bread was leavened using barm, a brewers yeast rather than bakers yeast.
The barm was collected as a bi-product of beer brewing, it's the scum that forms on top of fermenting beer.
I think it might be where we get the word 'barmy' from?
“Barmy” is one of those rare words that seems to have had two origins that converged. First, “barm” is the froth on fermenting beer or ale, so “barmy” was used figuratively “full of ferment, excitedly active, flighty”, as the OED puts it (possibly with connotations of intoxication and light-headness?). Second, there is not much difference in pronunciation between “barmy” and “balmy”, a slang term for “soft-headed, weak-minded, insane” (possibly because balms are usually soft? Or such persons needed a balm applied to their head? The OED gives the meaning, but doesn’t explain it.)
A very pertinent word for this thread.
