When I read this sentence from Jack London's "Up the Slide" this afternoon:
Each step became more difficult and perilous, and he was faint from exertion and from lack of Swanson's dinner.
The first thing I thought was "I didn't realize they called it a 'Swanson's dinner' back then." Why? Couple of reasons. The first is that I've known enough destitute Canadians to be familiar with phrases like "Kraft dinner." The second, that "Up the Slide" is a Klondike story, so drifting into thoughts of things frozen is to be expected. (The story, like many a London Klondike tale, is about the lengths a man will go to not to freeze to death.)
It was not until the end of the story, when the character named "Swanson" returned, that I realized I had spent the better part of the story thinking "if only this man searching for gold in 1895 can make it back to camp, he could microwave himself a TV dinner."
Needless to say, this marked the end of my working day.
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