Pollyanna

[Michael Quinion]

As you will have gathered, WWWords subscribers are a regular source
of questions I can't answer. To judge from online comments, this one
seems to puzzle a lot of people.

Why, particularly in Pennsylvania, is a type of gift exchange by
drawing lots - another name for which, I have just learned, is
"secret Santa" - called a Pollyanna (in full, "Pollyanna gift
exchange")? Could it possibly be derived from Eleanor Hodgman
Porter's character?

The earliest example I've found on newspaperarchive.com, which for
once is a Coshocton Tribune citation that's correctly dated, is:

1947 Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton, Ohio) 16 Dec. 9/2  Ladies Aid
Society of Nashville Church of Christ, all-day meeting Thursday at
home of Mrs. Carl Drake at Loudonville; covered dish dinner at noon;
Christmas gift exchange for members and a pollyanna gift exchange.

--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <wordseditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>