Only a fortnight ago, I was explaining to some students what a pianola was, and how the notion of ‘piano roll’ notation in music software is derived from that now ancient machine. ‘It was called a pianola’, I explained, realizing by the looks on their faces that a pianola to a student in 2009 is as remote a word as codpiece or criminy.
But look what I found in Lidl, an 8-pack of low fat yoghurts called Pianola. It’s an odd name for yoghurt, but it’s a darned sight easier to say than yaourt maigre avec des fruits.
Or perhaps the manufacturers are going to retrospectively recruit Marlene Dietrich in an advertising campaign, singing the immortal lines from Ich bin die fesche Lola ‘Ich hab’ ein pianola, zu haus’ in mein’ Salon’ while holding a pot of pear-flavoured yaourt maigre.
