"Sinkers" and "Dunking Doughnuts"

Wed Jun 14 21:14:34 UTC 2006

Now I see that OED online derives "dunk" from Pennsylvania German "dunken," to dip.  Without a documented early Pennsylvania connection, however, this may be less likely than a direct adaptation of German "tunken." (Is there a special Yiddish form of this?) Plenty of German- and Yiddish-speaking immigrants lived in N.Y. and Chicago.

  JL

Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
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Subject: "Sinkers" and "Dunking Doughnuts"
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What does HDAS have for "sinker"? I searched for this, with the keyword =20
"coffee." (HDAS has 1900, from New York.)
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Are they any other early cites for "dunking doughnuts"?
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_http://www.barrypopik.com/article/1627/dunking-doughnuts-and-sinkers_=20
(http://www.barrypopik.com/article/1627/dunking-doughnuts-and-sinkers)=20
...
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=20
Dunking Doughnuts (and "Sinkers")
=E2=80=9CDunking=E2=80=9D doughnuts became popular when New York City=E2=80=
=99s own Eddie Cantor =20
promoted the practice in his 1931 movie Palmy Days.=20
The practice of dunking doughnuts in coffee was popular in New York City a =20
many years before that (see =E2=80=9Csinkers=E2=80=9D below). The Dunkin=E2=
=80=99 Donuts company was =20
founded in Massachusetts in 1950.
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022246/plotsummary
Plot Summary for=20
Palmy Days (1931)=20
Musical comedy antics in an art deco bakery (motto: =E2=80=9CGlorifying the=
American=20
Doughnut=E2=80=9D) with Eddie Cantor as an assistant to a phoney psychic, w=
ho is=20
mistaken for an efficiency expert and placed in charge. Complications ensue=
when=20
the psychic and his gang attempt to rub the payroll.
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279784/plotsummary
Plot Summary for=20
Dora=E2=80=99s Dunking Doughnuts (1933)=20
Schoolteacher Andy Wilson makes his usual morning stop for coffee and donut=
s=20
at Dora=E2=80=99s Home Bakery. Today he enjoys talking to Dora so much that=
he is=20
late to school for the first time. Later that day, Dora tells him about som=
e=20
wonderful new donuts that she has made. Andy is so impressed with them that=
he=20
decides to have his students help him make a radio commercial, in order to=20
help Dora sell her new product.
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https://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/company/History.aspx
Dunkin=E2=80=99 Donuts was founded in 1950. Today, loyal customers like you=
can be=20
found in 30 countries and territories, stopping off for a cup of our=20
world-famous coffee and a fresh, delicious donut, bagel, muffin, or other b=
aked good.=20
It all started in 1946 when Mr. William Rosenberg founded Industrial Luncheo=
n=20
Services, a company that delivered meals and coffee break snacks to=20
customers in the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. The success of Industr=
ial=20
Luncheon Services led Rosenberg to open his first coffee and donut shop, th=
e =E2=80=9COpen =20
Kettle=E2=80=9D. Then, in 1950, Rosenberg opened the first store known as Du=
nkin=E2=80=99=20
Donuts in Quincy, Massachusetts.=20
With more than 6,000 Dunkin=E2=80=99 Donuts shops worldwide, the company is=20=
the =20
largest chain of coffee, donut, and bagel shops.
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3 February 1888, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. 1:
The beauty of the thing so fascinated =E2=80=9CCoffee and Sinkers=E2=80=9D=20=
that his=20
habitual discretion forsook him,...
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1 April 1888, New York Herald, pg. 9, col. 6:
Or they can get a cup of coffee and some cakes for ten cents. The facetious=
=20
patrons of the restaurant call these cakes =E2=80=9Csinkers,=E2=80=9D becaus=
e if they were=20
thrown overboard they wouldn=E2=80=99t float.
...
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January 1892, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, pg. 4:
...men who have succeeded in their calling have not disdained =E2=80=9Ccoff=
ee and=20
sinkers=E2=80=9D or beef and beans=E2=80=94that was all that he had to offe=
r, except doughnuts=20
and pie=E2=80=94...
...
...
27 July 1902, New York Tribune, section II, pg. 2, col. 6:
=E2=80=9CA little on the cow=E2=80=9D is milk. =E2=80=9CDraw one=E2=80=94bl=
ack=E2=80=9D is coffee, without milk. =E2=80=9C
One up=E2=80=9D is not golf, but a symbol, meaning that the waiter who call=
s has=20
another cup of coffee coming to him. =E2=80=9COff the griddle=E2=80=9D mean=
s butter cakes,=20
those deadly bullets of, rather, small cannon balls of dough, which are com=
monly=20
known to the hardy eaters thereof as =E2=80=9Csinkers,=E2=80=9D but which i=
t is high treason=20
to call by that name within the lunch room.
...
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14 October 1928, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. H5:
Ronald Colman and Herbert Brenon, the director, were dunking their morning=20
doughnuts when the party arrived, and soon started off in their cars to the=
=20
scene of the day=E2=80=99s work.
...
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5 June 1929, Atlanta Constitution, =E2=80=9CThe Way of the World=E2=80=9D b=
y Grove=20
Patterson, pg. 6:
DUNKING.
The editor of a well-known western paper not long ago gave an address,=20
repeated in movietone theaters, on the subject of =E2=80=9CDunking.=E2=80=
=9D Folks who dip their=20
doughnuts in the coffee are dunkers. But dunking has a long and not=20
dishonorable history. It goes back into the far reaches of tradition. Our g=
ood=20
old-fashioned word =E2=80=9Csupper=E2=80=9D was derived from the practice of=
sopping bread and=20
gravy.
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24 January 1930, Life, pg. 16:
In less than a week her husband=E2=80=99s doughnut-dunking habit had been s=
tamped=20
out forever!
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17 October 1930, Kingston (Jamaica) Daily Gleaner, pg. 8:
Ohio Penitentiary prisoners are dunking doughnuts again.
...
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21 December 1930, New York Times, pg. 48:
DOUGHNUT HOLES
ENGAGE EXPERTS=20
Small-Hole Cake Is by Far
the Best for Dunking,
One Declares
(...)
Did either Mr. Holbrook or Mr. Brown try to dunk doughnuts? The doughnut=20
with the big hole wobbles uncertainly and in some cases has even been known=
to=20
sink! (Sinker (Coll. Amer. slang): a doughnut which goes under.) But the=20
small-hole doughnut remains on the surface proudly, temptingly. Its buoyanc=
y is=20
never threatened by a superfluity of hole.
...
...
5 March 1931, Olean (NY) Herald, pg. 3:
In the meantime, Olean restaurant proprietors will continue to permit the=20
graceful practice of =E2=80=9Cdunking=E2=80=9D doughnuts in coffee.
...
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15 July 1931, Charleston (WV) Gazette, pg. 1:
Doughnut Shop Invades
Sacred Gotham Precincts=20
Largest Shop in World Makes Its Appearance on One
of Most Prominent Corners of Famous
Times Square; Dunking Allowed=20
NEW YORK, July 14.=E2=80=94(UP) Broadway, where you can=E2=80=99t walk ten s=
teps without =20
encountering a yokel, has been captivated by the doughnut people who are wag=
ing =20
a determined campaign to make America cruller conscious.=20
The world=E2=80=99s largest doughnut shop has opened on one of the most prom=
inent =20
corners of Times Square=E2=80=94immediately adjacent to the Astor=E2=80=94an=
d today it required=20
the expenditure of great effort and will power for a person to jam his way=20
in close enough to get a glimpse of a glorified doughnut.=20
A press agent, hired by the doughnut people to attract attention to the =20
place, sent out word that the shop is becoming the hangout of philosophers.=20=
But =20
the only person remotely resembling a philosopher found at the shop today wa=
s =20
Will H. Hays, the movie man.=20
A brass rail runs along the windows to keep people from glueing their noses=20=
=20
to the glass while contemplating the manufacture of doughnuts. It was to thi=
s =20
rail that Hays, dressed in an immaculate white suit with black stripes,=20
pushed his way.=20
=E2=80=9CWhat=E2=80=99s this?=E2=80=9D he demanded of a reporter, who was mo=
mentarily absorbed in =20
thoughts of the categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant.=20
=E2=80=9CDoughnuts,=E2=80=9D answered the reporter.=20
=E2=80=9CDoughnut? Where?=E2=80=9D the motion picture man asked.=20
=E2=80=9CRight there,=E2=80=9D he was told, =E2=80=9Cright there on that tra=
y. Lots of =E2=80=98em.=E2=80=9D=20
Hays gazed at the fluffy crullers a bit and a far-away look came into his =20
eyes. He was musing, no doubt, on a Hoosier childhood=E2=80=94on the doughnu=
ts of old =20
Indiana, when life was young, the frost was on the punkin and doughnuts were=
=20
cooked in a pot.=20
Hays gave way to two young things in taffeta, who giggled and gushed as they=
=20
watched the doughnuts coming down the revolving tray. Their conversation is=20=
=20
scarcely worth reporting, save for a single line.=20
=E2=80=9CI wonder,=E2=80=9D said one of them to her companion, =E2=80=9Chow=20=
they=E2=80=99d taste with gin?=E2=80=9D
=20
Inside it was learned that the management neither encourages nor discourages=
=20
dunking. =E2=80=9CIf you want to dunk,=E2=80=9D said one of the half dozen y=
oung ladies who=20
wait on the counter, =E2=80=9Cgo ahead and dunk. Personally I=E2=80=99d as=20=
leave dunk as =20
not.=E2=80=9D
...
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9 September 1931, Olean (NY) Evening Times, =E2=80=9CNew York Day By Day=
=E2=80=9D by O. O.=20
McIntyre, pg. 10:
Broadway now has a Java and sinker salon for dunking de luxe on the corner=20
north of the Astor, where glittering machines once cascaded cigarettes. Tod=
ay=20
drooling peepers through the oval window see machines minting luscious brow=
n=20
doughnuts.
...
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5 November 1931, Helena (Montana) Daily Independent, pg. 3 ad:
In line with Eddie Cantor=E2=80=99s NATIONAL =E2=80=9CDUNKING=E2=80=9D Cont=
est, every patron will=20
be given a luscious Eddy Bakery doughnut.
...
...
11 November 1931, Newark (Ohio) Advocate, pg.9 ad:
Eddie Cantor=20
Announces=20
That He Dunks His Doughnuts
Both In and Out of =E2=80=9CPalmy Days=E2=80=9D=20
You, Too, Will Enjoy Dunking
When You Once Taste=20
Huber=E2=80=99s Doughnuts
(...)
HUBER=E2=80=99S BAKERY
61 South Second Street
Newark, O.
...
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16 December 1931, Frederick (MD) News, pg. 9 ad:
GLORIFYING
THE AMERICAN DOUGHNUT=20
LEARN THE ART OF
=E2=80=9CDunking=E2=80=9D
Garber=E2=80=99s Preferred Doughnuts
FROM
EDDIE CANTOR
IN
=E2=80=9CPALMY DAYS=E2=80=9D
AT THE
TIVOLI THEATER
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY, DEC. 16-17=20
The Garber Baking Co.
...
...
30 April 1934, New York Times, pg. 15:
ADAM BREDE DEAD;
NOTED FOR BEEF-AN=E2=80=99=20
His Cuisine at Dolan=E2=80=99s in Park
Row Delighted Celebrated
Patrons for 40 Years.=20
NAMED =E2=80=9CSINKERS=E2=80=9D BY DINERS.=20
Adam Brede, one of the famous characters of the old days on Park Row, who =20
worked in Dolan=E2=80=99s restaurant for forty years, 1877-1917, and cooked=20=
the beef-an=E2=80=99
which made Dolan=E2=80=99s popular, died yesterday at his home, 32-28 Deca=
tur=20
Avenue, the Bronx, at the age of 78 (...)=20
For nearly two generations Adam Brede knew nearly everybody of importance wh=
o=20
worked in downtown New York, and many who journeyed to Park Row for some of=
=20
the plain, well-cooked fare always obtainable in the little =E2=80=9Cbeaner=
y=E2=80=9D=20
opposite the post office.=20
Sinkers, as the customers called the chef, loved his work and cherished a =20
store of recollections of his meeting with celebrities.
(...)
He cooked in various places=E2=80=A6before Pat Dolan engaged him for his=20=
=E2=80=9Cbeanery=E2=80=9D=20
at 3 Park Row.
...
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(Trademark)
Word Mark DUNKIN=E2=80=99 DONUTS=20
Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 029 030. US 046. G & S: DOUGHNUTS AND=20
DOUGHNUT FLOUR, FRUIT FILLINGS FOR DOUGHNUTS, COOKIES, CAKES AND PIES, VEGE=
TABLE=20
OIL SHORTENING AND COFFEE. FIRST USE: 19520500. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE:=20
19520500 =20
Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM =20
Design Search Code=20
Serial Number 71684644=20
Filing Date March 31, 1955 =20
Current Filing Basis 1A=20
Original Filing Basis 1A=20
Registration Number 0692491=20
Registration Date February 2, 1960=20
Owner (REGISTRANT) DUNKIN=E2=80=99 DONUTS OF AMERICA, INC. DOING BUSINESS A=
S DUNKIN=E2=80=99
DONUTS CORPORATION MASSACHUSETTS 25 HUNTINGTON AVE. BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS=20
(LAST LISTED OWNER) UNKNOWN RANDOLPH MASS.
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED=20
Type of Mark TRADEMARK=20
Register PRINCIPAL=20
Affidavit Text SECT 15.=20
Renewal 1ST RENEWAL 19800202=20
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD=20
Cancellation Date February 17, 2001=20

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