How the word came to reside in my lovely state still remains a mystery. So, what does all of this data mean? It can be tentatively concluded that the word “snowball” in reference to this summertime dessert is unique to Maryland. One response was from Pennsylvania and they also said snow cone. Two results were from California and they both said snow cone. The majority of people who took my survey were from Maryland, and all four of them said the same thing: snowball. The turnout was… less than ideal for a real statistical analysis, but it still showed some interesting trends. I hoped that I'd get some responses from Virginia or maybe Georgia, as they were both states near "known zones" as I started calling them. I conducted a survey on the Internet to gather data. So, I did what any curious person would do. Unfortunately, I don’t have any friend in the in-between states to ask directly what they call this wonderful summer dessert. But how did the regional term travel from the gulf coast to Maryland? Finely shaved ice that absorbs the syrup and marshmallow fluff, that’s a sno-ball (and a snowball). Apparently sno-balls in Mississippi, Louisiana, and much of the Gulf Coast are identical to their Maryland counterparts. After a bit of googling, I found an article by Greg Morago detailing his adventures with "sno-balls" (not snowballs)… in New Orleans, Louisiana. Is “snowball” really a Maryland-only thing? Surely other places must use this term. This dialectal discrepancy got me thinking though. What do you call crushed up ice with flavored syrup on/in it?” So, I did what any person with friends from out-of-state would do I immediately popped into one of my Skype groups and asked, “Quick. There was no way that this terminology was only used in Maryland. My first reaction to this information was shock and disbelief. It recently came to my attention that calling this delicious summer treat a snowball is something that’s apparently unique to my state, Maryland. This is what you may be asking right now, if you’re not from Maryland One cup, one spoon, and one boatload of napkins. One part shaved ice, one part flavored syrup.
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