Query: why "salt and pepper" but not "pepper and salt"?

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:26 PM -0500 5/19/05, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>The differing order of the names in the message below is explainable
>by who belongs to which family.  Holly's family will put her first
>("Holly 'n' Fritz"), while Fritz's family will put him first ("Fritz
>'n' Holly").  I noticed this phenomenon long ago, when I realized
>that all my cousins who got married were referred to first within my
>family--very possibly without the speakers even being aware of this.
>So, for example, "Sheldon and Leona" (Sheldon is my cousin).
>

Right; that's all part of the Cooper & Ross "Me First" protocol.  Cf.
the Yale-Harvard game (as it's called here), which mysteriously turns
into the Harvard-Yale game (when you go to Cambridge).  Or Aunt X and
Uncle Y vs. Uncle Y and Aunt X, depending on which one is your blood
relative.

Larry

>  > ----------
>>  From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of FRITZ JUENGLING
>>  Sent:         Thursday, May 19, 2005 5:51 PM
>>  Subject:           Re: Query: why "salt and pepper" but not
>>"pepper and salt"?
>>
>>  To what degree does stress play a role in such things?  My in-laws
>>call my wife and me "Holly 'n' Fritz".  My folks call us "Fritz 'n'
>>Holly".  I think the latter is much easier to say, but the in-laws
>>don't go for it.  Maybe they just have too much stress in their
>>lives already.
>>  Fritz
>>