Fudge

[Michael Quinion]

> As Barry Popik has discovered, the first dated mention of fudge is in a
> Vassar yearbook from 1893. The letter by Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, of
> which I have a copy here, is indeed earlier, but is undated. However, from
> internal evidence it must be later than 1888.

Barry Popik has corrected me. The famous letter is much more recent. Lee
Edwards Benning in "Oh Fudge!: A Celebration of America's Favorite Candy"
(1994) says it was actually written on 11 December 1921. As it happens,
the letter is irrelevant to the history of the word "fudge" itself, since
it contains nothing to suggest where it comes from or was first used.


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

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