stock or soup?

Which came first the stock or the soup? What is the difference between stock, bouillon and broth? If a dead stock were poured in a forest with no one around, would it make a sound? These are my new philosophical crises.

Recipe ii in the book is for french onion soup. A classic. But of course french onion calls for beef stock. Rather than listening to the sound reasoning of my wife, and running down to Publix (where shopping is pleasurable) to by a box of Swanson broth, I resolved to make my own. Enter the above questions. Beef stock is very similar to some beef soup.

Onions, carrots and beef all in a pot simmering for a long time, if that ain't soup then tell me what is. In fact after clarifying enough stock for the soon coming french onion soup, I threw the rest back in with the vegetables and beef shank for this evening's supper. I guess soup becomes stock when you remove all the bits, and stock becomes soup when you add it back in.

My second quandary when launching on this stock/broth/bouillon adventure was what to include in the bouquet garni, dried or fresh herbs. I remembered reading once in Men's Health that dried herbs performed better in slow cooked dishes, thus I went dry. We will have to plant an herb garden here soon, as almost all of these recipes call for thyme and flat leaf (Italian) parsley.

Finally, I have included an action shot. I am already tired of photographing food looking down into a pot. Perhaps I will do some research on photography, specifically of food.