A Post to Warm the Cockles of Your Heart

And, like most of us, you're wondering, "What in the #*@! is a cockle, and as long as it doesn't raise my cholesterol, why do I care if it's warmed?? I'd heard the expression for many years, but today, I just decided it was time to find out exactly what a "cockle" was. The first few definitions did not encourage me.


The primary definition, is of a sand burrowing, bivalve mollusk. Okay that makes sense. There was a song I remembered from my youth:

In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty,
'twas there that I first met sweet Molly Mallone.
She'd wheel her wheelbarrow through the streets broad and narrow,
crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh"

So, if cockles are shellfish, why would there be any in your heart to warm? This wouldn't be like that chest burster in "Alien" would it? (Shudders) I don't think so, so let us bore on... (That's element number 5!) A cockle can also be...a weed. "any of several plants, esp the corn cockle, that grow as weeds in cornfields". Wow. That'll warm the weeds of your heart! Hmm. Still not quite the impact I was looking for!

It could also be the wrinkle or puckering of cloth and paper. "Pucker up! I'm warming your cockles!" No. Still missing something!

Then, down towards the bottom of the definitions, I saw this: "a small furnace or stove". That would be something to warm! And if, metaphorically, your heart were growing colder, something to warm it would be pleasant indeed.

If your heart seems a little colder this Christmas season, seek out those individuals and those activities which are known to warm the cockles of your heart, now that you have a slightly better idea of what they are!

No need to thank me. I consider it a public service.