Why on earth would I put a Beverly Hillbillies gif on a blog about concrete? Well because the subject of this scene is something that's always bothered me. You see, on the show, these beloved hillbillies constantly referred to their pool as a "Ce-ment Pond". I would like to get this off my chest once and for all - they should be calling it a "Concrete Pond". Okay okay, they’re supposed to be uneducated Hillbillies, they get a pass. But you, dear reader, do not. At least not after reading this post.
Okay, so now the question is, why do I care so much? It's because there's a pretty large difference between cement and concrete. Cement refers to Portland cement, a powder formed from limestone and clay that's been put through a kiln and then ground up with gypsum to form a compound that will react with water and harden.
Portland cement
This resulting hardened cement paste, while strong, is very brittle and not all that useful as a building material. The real magic happens when we add sand and rocks; then we can finally call it concrete.
So maybe our gang of hillbillies were actually cement scientists and were only referring to that component of the concrete, but somehow I doubt it. To most of you this is probably annoyingly pedantic, but it's something I needed to get off my chest.