mála, mahlah, mala, what was it called?

vedwards

Hi folks,

going mad here, can't even find it on the great Oracle of Google! Play Doh and Plasterzine replaced it. We used it as kids to make animals, cups, figures etc...I always got a new selection of this colourful, odorous compound from Hector Greys' at Christmas.
Is it still manufactured...mála, mahlah, mala, what was it called?

I'd love to get some and smell it again. I can just image all the fears and joys of childhood would come rushing back as my senses tingle!

ZzubZzub

Think it's marla or some such! I miss it! So many memories...

Dunno if ya can still get it though!

EDIT

Im almost sure it's marla, not mala. The irish for plasticine is marla!

From here http://www.irishdictionary.ie/dictionary

>>plasticine<<
TRANSLATION:
plasticine = n marla

topper75

Marla balls and marla snakes dominated the early part of my life.

Konata

Definitely marla. Wow, totally forgot about that stuff.

I certainly haven't seen it around in recent years but maybe try asking in some art stores or something? Thye might have some info. And if it's not manufactured anymore there are plenty of great alternatives available these days.
Lacking the nostalgic factor of course

ZzubZzub

Managing to get a piece that hadn't been mixed with another colour is what got me through primary. And if I'm honest, though secondary too.

Dublin_Gunner

funnily, this has been a topic of conversation before on these here boards:


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055388053

I always knew it as 'Mala' (pronounced maw-la) or indeed maw-leh depending on which part of Dublin you were from

BTW - its 'plasticine' not plasterzine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasticine

http://www.corkslang.com/mla.htm

http://www.slang.ie/index.php?county=all&entry=M%E1la&letter=M

Oh the memories!

rccaulfield

Defo MALA! Always thought it was an irish word with a fadagh over the first a?

vedwards

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

funnily, this has been a topic of conversation before on these here boards:

Yeah; just spotted that with the corrections. I think the translation theory sounds plausible from Plasticine to Marla (or whatever) I even found a Poll on the pronunciation at http://www.connectingsingles.com/poll_0_3657_1/what_did_ye_say_in_school_for_plasticine.htm (although the photo of the stuff is more play-doh like and not like the more rounded corrugations and slender appearance of the Marla of my childhood) and web designers in Waterford!

Dublin_Gunner

vedwards wrote: »

Yeah; just spotted that with the corrections. I think the translation theory sounds plausible from Plasticine to Marla (or whatever) I even found a Poll on the pronunciation at http://www.connectingsingles.com/poll_0_3657_1/what_did_ye_say_in_school_for_plasticine.htm (although the photo of the stuff is more play-doh like and not like the more rounded corrugations and slender appearance of the Marla of my childhood) and web designers in Waterford!

You eh, just happened across that poll, yeah??

jum4

Cleeo wrote: »

Managing to get a piece that hadn't been mixed with another colour is what got me through primary. And if I'm honest, though secondary too.

so so true!!

in my school it wall all one brownish color!! can still remember that in winter they needed to "warmed" up over the radiator, that smell still haunts me!!

Ann22

A shop that does cheapie toys used to do it. My son loves it, it's far more pliable than playdoh. Sadly they stopped selling it. The smell of it would bring you back.

ghost_ie

vedwards wrote: »

Hi folks,

going mad here, can't even find it on the great Oracle of Google! Play Doh and Plasterzine replaced it. We used it as kids to make animals, cups, figures etc...I always got a new selection of this colourful, odorous compound from Hector Greys' at Christmas.
Is it still manufactured...mála, mahlah, mala, what was it called?

I'd love to get some and smell it again. I can just image all the fears and joys of childhood would come rushing back as my senses tingle!

Before it was ever known as Mala (I only heard that name when my children went to school and never knew how to spell it) it was called Plasticine. We used to get it at Christmas too, and in spite of all our resolutions we never did manage to keep the colours separate

Ruu_Old

Mixing up all the colours always give you brown.

bigdogbarking

Ruu wrote: »

Mixing up all the colours always give you brown.

Ní maith liom brown.......stupid brown.....:mad::mad::mad::mad:

ruined the look of every goalpost and football i ever made on the desk:mad:

topper75

Ruu wrote: »

Mixing up all the colours always give you brown.

Sir Isaac Newton took the handy road, only investigating white light. He never dared investigate why all the mala colours mixed to brown. Science needs to cop itself on.

Babooshka

Oh how I loved this stuff and yes we called it marla (prounding it maw-la!) and yes I hated when it went brown. I used to try leave for ages in it it's little sections before using it, but always caved and ended up witha murky brown ball of bleh ...aw well them were the days - we could have built anything with that stuff

I always pronounced it as "maw-la" but never knew how to spell it, just assumed it was mala.

Babooshka

Babooshka wrote: »

.... (prounding it maw-la!)

I meant pro-noun-cing it mawla....I type too fast

West Briton

In Leixlip in 1971 it was "márla".

Any idea where the name as Gaeilge came from? Was there an Irish brand called Márla once upon a time. The packets we used were definitely Plasticine at that time.

McChubbin

Marla is one of the greatest things ever invented.

There used to be a little nameless newsagents near where my granny lives that once sold it in little yellow packets for about £1.
You got all the standard colours as well as green and white and once-on one rare and fleeting occasion- a long strip of hot pink.
Ahh, good times. The smell of it takes me back to the early 90s.

Feck, now I'm stricken with the desire to play with some marla.

Anyone know where you can still buy the stuff of squidgy legends?

Jip

McChubbin wrote: »

Ahh, good times. The smell of it takes me back to the early 90s.

:eek: When I read posts like this I realise I'm not young any more.

bullets

I've a round ball of Pure Black Placticine on my desk at work sitting
there for the last few months!

Down the Market on a Saturday morning growing up and
I would sometimes get treated by the grand-mother
to one of a few things.

a packet of Morla as I called it, (white packet of plasticine)
a Yo-Yo that lit up when you spun it.
a Biro that wrote in Ink that you could rub out with a rubber!
Sometimes a 12 pack of colouring pencils
Colour changing Marker Pens (where the white one changed the colour)

a Kiddy meal that was basically saussage and chips.

~B