Word For The Wise: Mayonnaise
March 8th, 2010
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Author: William James Mayo, the older of the two brothers who established the Minnesota medical facility that would come to be called the Mayo Clinic, was born on June 29 in 1861. Doctor Mayo inspired us to spread the word about a term that just happens to be spelled the same way as his last name. We're talking about mayo, a shortened form of the word mayonnaise.
If you guessed that mayonnaise has a French background, you can count yourself in the know about the linguistics of that dressing made of egg yolks, vegetable oil, and vinegar or lemon juice. Etymologists aren't certain about the term's origin (they suspect it may have roots in Mahon, a city on the Spanish island of Minorca), but they do know
If you guessed that mayonnaise has a French background, you can count yourself in the know about the linguistics of that dressing made of egg yolks, vegetable oil, and vinegar or lemon juice. Etymologists aren't certain about the term's origin (they suspect it may have roots in Mahon, a city on the Spanish island of Minorca), but they do know
it first appeared in print in English in 1841.
A dish prepared with the dressing may also be called mayonnaise, as in the case of lobster mayonnaise. But did you know that mayonnaise can also name a card-dealing method used by bridge players? That's right. The technique, which mixes cards in a specific way, is also known as goulash or hollandaise.
We'll end with a tasty tidbit about the word we began with: mayo. Although we'd bet the word mayo was familiar to generations of folks sitting at lunch counters, the earliest known record of mayo in print dates only to 1960.
Here's our address in short form: wftw@aol.com. Our street address is Word for the Wise, 318 Central Avenue, Albany, New York 12206.
Shawn Dudley is our audio engineer. Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and CD's including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.
A dish prepared with the dressing may also be called mayonnaise, as in the case of lobster mayonnaise. But did you know that mayonnaise can also name a card-dealing method used by bridge players? That's right. The technique, which mixes cards in a specific way, is also known as goulash or hollandaise.
We'll end with a tasty tidbit about the word we began with: mayo. Although we'd bet the word mayo was familiar to generations of folks sitting at lunch counters, the earliest known record of mayo in print dates only to 1960.
Here's our address in short form: wftw@aol.com. Our street address is Word for the Wise, 318 Central Avenue, Albany, New York 12206.
Shawn Dudley is our audio engineer. Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and CD's including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition.
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