Martha, of Englewood, wanted to know what exactly is a johnnycake. She thought it was simply another name for a pancake, but a friend told her it was something different.

One reader, Terry, thought it was a potato cake. But Rob told us more about johnnycakes than I ever expected to learn.

According to his research, this regional American food, strongly identified with Rhode Island, is also spelled jonnycake and journey cake. It's an unleavened, slightly sweetened cornmeal pancake fried in butter and served with syrup or another sweet topping.

A variation, he said, is a hoecake, which is cooked on the blade of a hoe over a fire, usually by a field worker.

For the record, my desk dictionary says johnnycake also is used to refer to any cornbread. That same dictionary says the name comes from cake combined with Johnny, once used to mean any man or boy. But the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins says it probably came from Shawnee cakes, a corn bread made by the Shawnee Indians.

Another theory is that johnnycake comes from journey cake, reflecting its use as a travel food carried in a saddlebag.

Ready for another question? Since we're talking about word origins, try this:

I'm reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for my fifth-grade literature class. I am wondering why they call the raised back of the ship a "poop deck." - Timothy

Readers, let's help Timothy with this interesting nautical term. Why is that deck called a "poop deck"? (Remember that kids - including at least one fifth-grader - are watching, so let's not get all scatological.)

Post your responses, or ask your own question, at the Ask! blog, blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/ask.