Chiclets: Encyclopedia - Chiclets

Chiclets

Chiclets are a brand of candy coated chewing gum made by Cadbury Adams. The product's name is derived from chicle (Nahuatl tziktli), the substance from which chewing gum was traditionally made. The original flavor was peppermint, but new flavors "Strawberry Breeze" and "Citrus Samba" are now available. Assorted fruit flavor and spearmint Chiclets are also sold.

The plain white coloring and rectangular shape of Chiclets has led to the use of the word as slang for teeth. To give someone a "mouthful of chiclets" is to punch them so that their teeth are knocked out. The word may also be used to describe poorly done and unnatural looking dental work. In the movie Dennis the Menace, Dennis glued Chiclets onto Mr. Wilson's dentures after destroying them.

"Chiclet keys" refer to the small keys or pushbuttons used on some electronic devices, particularly pocket calculators and some early home computers such as the Radio Shack MC-10 and the IBM PCjr.

Chiclets, just as other types of gum, stimulates saliva production, leading some to claim that chewing gum after meals helps digest food better. Also, if made without any sugar, it helps clean the surface of teeth.

Chiclets also refer to the little orange gifs that indicate the availability of an RSS feed on a web page. You can see one on the CNN homepage at www.cnn.com

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Chiclets", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki