Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 January 28

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January 28

"Dog food novelties"

What does this mean? This sign is placed in the supermarket above a freezer door. Behind the freezer door are boxes of ice cream. There are chocolate ice cream bars too. Is it saying that everything in that section of the freezers is for dogs, even the chocolate ice cream bars that seem to be safe for dogs? Or is this a sign misplacement because a long time ago, there were literally novel varieties of commercial dog food in that section of the freezers? SSS (talk) 05:07, 28 January 2018 (UTC)

There was a "past industry project" at the Babcock Dairy Plant at University of Wisconsin–Madison called "Dog food novelties" -- presumably a frozen dairy product. However, the dairy is "...licensed by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture to produce products for sale on campus." Is that where you saw the sign? —2606:A000:4C0C:E200:5816:CC2:4ADE:73A0 (talk) 05:32, 28 January 2018 (UTC)

No, I saw it in a supermarket, above the freezer door. It seemed as if the sign labelled the items behind the freezer door as "dog food novelties". SSS (talk) 05:41, 28 January 2018 (UTC)

So, the supermarket was not on/near campus in Madison? Your latter guess seems reasonable; perhaps somebody here can relate purchasing such a thing (bacon ice-cream cones perhaps? ...liver-pops?)

Or, ask somebody who works there. ...Or, maybe they simply forgot the comma (as in "Dog food, [and] novelties").  —2606:A000:4C0C:E200:5816:CC2:4ADE:73A0 (talk) 13:37, 28 January 2018 (UTC)