Cockles:
- any bivalve mollusk of the genus Cardium, having somewhat heart-shaped, radially ribbed valves, especially C. edule, the common edible species of Europe.
- any of various allied or similar mollusks.
- cockleshell (defs 1, 2).
- a wrinkle; pucker:a cockle in fabric.
- a small, crisp candy of sugar and flour, bearing a motto. [Dictionary.com]
Noted in The Violent Bear It Away, Flannery O’Connor:
“It was sass he had got from them,” the old man said. “Just parrot-mouthing all they had ever said about how I was a crazy man. The truth was even if they told him not to believe what I had taught him, he couldn’t forget it. He never could forget that there was a chance that that simpleton was not his only father. I planted the seed in him and it was there for good. Whether anybody liked it or not.”
“It fell amongst cockles,” Tarwater said. “Say the sass.”
“It fell in deep,” the old man said, “or else after that crash he wouldn’t have come out here hunting me.”
And, no, I didn’t pick up on any humor or Catholic themes in this grim novel concerning runaway Godliness. And what was that rape scene about anyways?
