mayo

[Jim Rader]

Though not a clipping from an older word, <egg cream> is another
culinary item that has a surprisingly late date in Merriam files:
1954.  DARE has only more recent cites.  But I've just noticed that
the OED Additions Series v. 2 pushes <egg cream> WAY back--with cites
from 1947 (Irving Shulman), 1906 (from a periodical called _Soda
Fountain_??), and 1841for what may have been the original egg cream.
Still seems like there must be lots of cites from in between out
there.  But kudos to whoever collected the pre-1954 cites.

Jim Rader

> > This morning a local program on words noted that the earliest evidence
> > for mayo (=mayonnaise) is from 1960.  This no doubt is from Wentworth &
> > Flexner.  I've looked about a bit and the only suggestion of earlier
> > evidence is from W&F where they say "common since 1930."  Surely it
> > must be earlier than 1960.
>
> One would indeed think this would be earlier than 1960, if not
> 1930, but I haven't seen an example of this, nor has the OED or
> the Merriam folk.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> <jester at panix.com>
>