Hamburger: "The word hamburger owes its origins to the German city of Hamburg. Historians believe that around the same time sausage-makers were refining their meat products, cooks in Hamburg served up a cooked version of steak tartare."
Hot Dog:"The name was born when German immigrants in the United States began selling variations of sausages, some of which were thin and long, like dachshunds. Merchants with a morbid sense of humor started calling these "dachshund sausages." Over time, the phrase shortened into hot dog and the name stuck."
Ketchup:"The common American condiment made of tomatoes and vinegar got its name from a very different sauce made in China. The word comes from the Malay word kichap, a brine of fish. American sailors added tomatoes to create the sauce we enjoy today."
Mayonnaise:
"We don't actually know where the weird word mayonnaise came from. There are two competing theories. One holds that it is named after Mahon, the city in Spain. However, the French contend that the word is a mutation of bayonnaise, from the French town Bayonne."
Barbecue:
"The word barbecue originated in a Native American language spoken in what is today Haiti. The Arawakan word barbakoa meant "framework of sticks.""
Cola:
"The word cola actually comes from a tree, not a drink. It is named after the cola-nut tree, which is native to tropical western Africa. Colas were originally made with the dried leaves and nuts of cola tress, so both Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola took their names from their main ingredients."
(All text in quotation marks is from http://dictionary.reference.com/)
No comments:
Post a Comment