[Ads-l] Possible antedating of Banana Split

[Baker, John]

Just slightly later than the 9/28/1905 example previously found is an advertisement in the Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel, Oct. 9, 1905, at 6 (NewspaperArchive and Newspapers.com).  An advertisement for The White Drug Store lists several “New Soda Specials,” the first of which is “Banana Split 10c.”  (That should be a cent symbol, not the letter c, but I don’t have that symbol on my keyboard.)  The advertisement was repeated, again on page 6, on October 11, 1905.


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of ADSGarson O'Toole
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2024 11:24 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Possible antedating of Banana Split

External Email - Think Before You Click


Excellent effort and nice lead, Peter. Unfortunately, the date is
February 1, 1906. The year does appear to be 1905, but the typeface is
degraded, and the year is really 1906.

The pages are fully visible in the U.S. because the document is in the
public domain. Following your link and clicking the snippet reveals
the full pages (in the U.S. and probably the U.K. too). Scrolling to
the previous page and the next page reveals the true date.

Garson

On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 10:55 PM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>
<mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>> wrote:
>
> a few months ago ADS found a cite from September 28, 1905
>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2023-April/163346.html<https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2023-April/163346.html>
>
>
> Here's one that might be from Feb 1 1905.
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Pharmaceutical_Era/jLzmAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22banana+split%22&dq=%22banana+split%22&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Pharmaceutical_Era/jLzmAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22banana+split%22&dq=%22banana+split%22&printsec=frontcover>
>
>
> As always, it's hard to be sure from tiny Google snippets, but this seems to be the top
> of the same page, as far as I can tell.
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Pharmaceutical_Era/jLzmAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22banana+split%22+1905+97&dq=%22banana+split%22+1905+97&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Pharmaceutical_Era/jLzmAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22banana+split%22+1905+97&dq=%22banana+split%22+1905+97&printsec=frontcover>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>

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

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