'Grist' is corn which is brought to a mill for grinding (c.f. 'gristing' as a verb for grinding); the word has survived in the phrase 'grist to one's mill', but I wonder how many people who use it realize what it means.
I have never heard that phrase. Did you mean "grist for one's mill"?
I'm well acquainted with grist, though. I don't think it's an unusual word at all for rural folks. We use it to describe threshed grain pre-milling or for any coarse grain product milled at a grist mill.
For purposes of clarity, you might prefer to use the word "grain" over corn these days. Corn typically refers to maize nowadays, but historically it was a word used for the dominant cereal crop of any region. Grist can be any cereal crop, not just maize.
I've always heard the phrase as, "grist for the mill."
I used to live near the Old Grist Mill restaurant (in Seekonk, Massachusetts), so I'm guessing that most people who've experienced that particular dining experience (and I use the term loosely) will know what grist means.
Krasota, I didn't realise that 'corn' had a different historical meaning. In the UK, the word 'corn' is used to mean grain in general, so is more in line with the old US meaning.
Yes, 'corn' is one of those words which are understood in different ways on opposite sides of the Atlantic; here in Britain it used to refer to maize only in very specific contexts (corn on the cob, sweet corn).
Something can be grist for someone's mill, or one can bring grist to someone's mill, both expressions are in current use. The word will doubtless be readily intelligible to people who live in areas where grain is stillbrought in for gristing; though a test on a couple of neighbours in the rural area where I live revealed no understanding; but this is dairy-farming country.
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I'm well acquainted with grist, though. I don't think it's an unusual word at all for rural folks. We use it to describe threshed grain pre-milling or for any coarse grain product milled at a grist mill.
For purposes of clarity, you might prefer to use the word "grain" over corn these days. Corn typically refers to maize nowadays, but historically it was a word used for the dominant cereal crop of any region. Grist can be any cereal crop, not just maize.
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I used to live near the Old Grist Mill restaurant (in Seekonk, Massachusetts), so I'm guessing that most people who've experienced that particular dining experience (and I use the term loosely) will know what grist means.
Krasota, I didn't realise that 'corn' had a different historical meaning. In the UK, the word 'corn' is used to mean grain in general, so is more in line with the old US meaning.
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Something can be grist for someone's mill, or one can bring grist to someone's mill, both expressions are in current use. The word will doubtless be readily intelligible to people who live in areas where grain is stillbrought in for gristing; though a test on a couple of neighbours in the rural area where I live revealed no understanding; but this is dairy-farming country.
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