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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us November 30, 2005 Food & History Expressions that have roots in food Jeff Cheek We spend so much of our lives eating that many of our everyday expressions and habits are centered around food. This is a small sampling from hundreds. Cafeteria — The harried clerks from Lloyds of London had only a short break for lunch. A clever proprietor put up a sign: To Insure Prompt Service, which allowed them to pay before ordering. They soon learned that adding a few pennies for the waiter speeded up their meal. We have paid “tips” ever since. An innovative American opened the first self-service restaurant in the world in New York City on Sept. 5, 1885, for the same reason. It was faster than ordering from a menu. He called it a cafeteria. Flapjacks — Pancakes and flapjacks are the same. Cooked in a skillet, the cook turned them by tossing them in the air then catching them. They became flapjacks because the half cooked pancakes seemed to flap their wings like birds as they turned over. Mountain Dew — Americans use the term for “white lightning” or illegally distilled whiskey, but we actually borrowed the name from Scotland. In the 1760s, the British government banned small-scale distilleries in Scotland as it was impossible to control (and tax) them. The canny Scots simply moved their stills into the mountains and continued operating. Their whiskey was known as “mountain dew.” Adam’s Apple — This is a protuberance on the throat. It is actually a thyroid cartilage and is prominent in some men, like actor Clint Eastwood. Ancient folklore said it was a reminder from God. It was a piece of the apple (the forbidden fruit) that stuck in Adam’s throat when he ate it. I heard it on the grapevine — This phrase now refers to a rumor but once held a life-saving message. The Underground Railroad helped thousands of slaves escape to freedom in Canada. Conductors taught runaways a secret code. They hung laundry on clotheslines to tell these escapees if the area was safe. Other clothing was hung to warn them of danger. If the conductor did not have a rope for a clothesline, he would cut grapevines as a substitute. Pie in the sky — This expressions comes from the early labor movement in the United States. Labor leader Joe Hill wrote a bitter melody, satirizing preachers who ignored the excesses of management but promised the workers paradise after death. “You will eat, bye and bye; In that glorious land above the sky; So work and pray, live on hay; You’ll have pie in the sky when you die.” Egg on — Often, bystanders will encourage others to fight. They “egg on” the combatants. This is from an old Norse word. The egg was the cutting edge of a knife. Men were encouraged to fight by flourishing these lethal blades. Hootch — This is a slang word for cheap whiskey. It comes from the Alaskan Indian (Aleuts) word “hoochino,” a home brewed whiskey they made. Cobbler — A cobbler is a deep dish fruit pie where the crust leaves some of the fruit uncovered. Seen from above, the dessert resembles a cobblestone street, and gives it the name. An apricot cobbler is a tasty way to finish off a good dinner. Apricot Cobbler 1 cup Bisquick 1/3 cup milk 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1 16-oz can apricot halves Mix all ingredients except apricots. Spread batter in 8 by 8 baking pan. Pour apricots and syrup over batter. Bake at 400 degrees 25 to 30 minutes. Serve as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams