"everything": hamburger (1937), hot dog (1938), pizza (1954), bagel (1988)

[Ben Zimmer]

Over on Language Log, there's been some discussion (thanks to Shel
Silverstein and the Dalai Lama) about the use of "everything" to mean "all
available toppings" with reference to hot dogs and pizza and such, as well
as the "everything bagel":

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3441

A few cites (this sense of "everything" is not recorded in OED or any other
dictionary I checked):

* "hamburger with everything"

1937 _Washington Post_ 14/3 [Jimmie Fidler's "In Hollywood" column] Ann
Sothern is a "hamburger with everything, please" addict.

* "hot dog with everything"

1938 _Salt Lake Tribune_ 10/1 [Jimmie Fidler's "In Hollywood" column]
Studies in incongruity: Marie Wilson, swanky in a dazzling cloth-of-silver
evening gown, munching a hot dog with everything at Jungle Bill's roadside
stand.

* "pizza with everything"

1954 _Christian Science Monitor_ 5 Mar. 17/4 There was Pizza with mushrooms,
Pizza with tomatoes, Pizza with this and Pizza with that, Pizza with the
other -- quite a lengthy list, concluding with the triumphant line in
capital letters, "PIZZA WITH EVERYTHING."

* "everything bagel"

1988 _New York Times_ 3 Aug. C7/3 The "everything bagel" is dusted with
salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic and onion.

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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