Antedating "Virginia ham" to 1795 & 1803 (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

>
>
> >Or maybe he just slaughtered pigs, and the 20th/21st century
> >menu-writers decided it should be called "Virginia Ham".
>
> I trust this is not serious?  It was on the menu for John Davis when
> he traveled in Virginia before 1800.  (And even if this is an
> elaboration -- I think he was one of the principal elaborators of the
> tale of Capt. Smith and Pocahontas -- the phrase still dates to 1803.)
>
> Joel
> Society - http://www.americandialect.org

It was serious in the sense that maybe GW never used the exact phrase "Virginia Ham" in his writings, but that modern restaurant managers, believing that "Virginia ham" looks better written on a menu than "ham", chose to describe it that way.  In other words, just because the menu says that an entrée is authentic to period times, doesn't mean that it is lexicographically faithful to Washington's writings or his table.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org