[Ads-l] 2nd try: Query from reporter concerning restaurant term "check"

[Baker, John]

I expect that this definition ("A means to ensure accuracy, correctness, security from fraud, etc.") was the original meaning of restaurant "check," and further suppose that it derives immediately from the term "meal check," which was a paper used on railroad dining cars for this purpose.  The potential fraud apparently was at least as likely to be that of the restaurant's workers as it was that of the customer.  The following discussion, from an 1894 patent case addressing the patentability of an improved form of meal check, seems to me to be illuminating:

"Utility in the alleged invention is well shown by the testimony,
especially in its adaptability to railroad dining car service, to
and of which the showing is directed. It appears that prior
to this device the checks in use for that service were printed
in blocks or books, each sheet or page having three checks,
bearing like number and made detachable by perforated lines
between each, one designated 'cook's check,' one 'guest's
check,' and one 'waiter's check,' or the like. These were so
employed that when the passenger made his order from the
separate bill of fare one check was delivered by the waiter
to the cook as a voucher, and the others became vouchers in
the hands of the waiter and conductor or steward, as might be
arranged, so that three corresponding checks must be returned
to the company for each meal served. The object was to
prevent fraud; but when these servants were in collusion the
plan did not insure detection, and was found ineffective.

The patentee was a practical dining car servant, acquainted
with the need for better check upon fraud, and conceived the
device of combining with the checks the bill of fare or menu
card, utilizing the three courses of the meal so that each could
enter into a triplicate check- thus bringing the passenger or
person taking the meal into the combination for avoidance
of fraud. With the order for his first course taken by the
waiter the cook's voucher would be served, and (as the patent
describes it) 'the bill of fare will be mutilated so as to make
the remainder incomplete as a bill of fare, and hence useless
for another guest.' This plan now appears of great simplicity.
The record shows that it has been extensively adopted, since
the issue of the patent, and is a decided improvement."

Benjamin Menu Card Co. v. Rand, McNally & Co., 210 F. 285, 286 (N.D. Ill. 1894).


John Baker




From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Sent: Wednesday, August 3, 2022 6:34 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: 2nd try: Query from reporter concerning restaurant term "check"

External Email - Think Before You Click


My thanks to those who have brainstormed on restaurant "check," some in private messages.
Here now is one definition of "check" (noun #1) in OED3:
"14. A means to ensure accuracy, correctness, security from fraud, etc."

This seems to fit well with the 1901 newspaper article presented by Peter Reitan, in which
restaurant proprietors have to be on the lookout for dishonest customers.

Gerald Cohen

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

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