CHICKEN SOUP

Posted by Bob on May 27, 2006

In Reply to: CHICKEN SOUP posted by Yuri on May 27, 2006

: Dear experts,

: Could you comment on the expression CHICKEN SOUP:

: Compiled of new and previously published stories, this Chicken Soup collection brings inspiration for the holidays.

: OHey, my Mac [computer] is messed up. It won,t work., OTry re-building your desktop, it,s chicken soup.,

: Thank you,
: Yuri

You can't cure the common cold with medication, but chicken soup works wonders - or so goes the conventional wisdom. (In fact, there is some clinical data to suggest that chicken soup does have therapeutic value, beyond the comfort of warm aromatic comfort food.)

So the words chicken soup became a shorthand for a cure-all, a mysterious-but-effective way to solve problems. There are books of treacly "wisdom" that started with "Chicken Soup for the Soul," which then spawned a generation of sentimental spinoffs.