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It's almost time for hot cross buns again (yum!), but they always raise a question in my mind to which I have yet to obtain a satisfactory answer. What do you call a cold one? is it a cold hot cross bun, is it simply a cross bun, could it be a cold cross bun, or is there another, altogether more satisfactory turn of phrase which has eluded me all these years? Could it possibly be that they are always hot cross buns, irrespective of their temperature? If so, how are we to differentiate linguistically between the cold and the 'not cold' examples?

I have always been led to believe it comes from the saying...hot cross Nunns, based on when Nunns worked in the kitchens at Easter to prepare the food for the rest of the Convent and they were not very good cooks, always making mistakes and getting cross but not being able to voice their frustrations, so walked around looking all angry and hot under their habits. The other Nuns would walk by saying to each other...don't go in the kitchen, its full of hot cross Nunns.

Ghosty.

Idris wrote:What do you call a cold one?

A cold one? That's a beer!