What was so "hot" about hot cakes?
score:7
It appears nobody knows the origin.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "hot cake" goes back to the 17th century, but "sell like hot cakes" shows up in the early 1800s.
- colloq. In pl. in like hot cakes, as the type of something very desirable or in great demand; orig. and frequently in to to sell (also go, go off) like hot cakes.
1839 C. F. Briggs Adventures Harry Franco I. xi. 74 ‘You had better buy 'em, Colonel,’ said Mr. Lummucks, ‘they will sell like hot cakes.’
1879 Congress. Rec. 15 May 1368/1 Four per cent bonds..go off like hot cakes.
1908 Daily Chron. 4 Aug. 3/4 Ice creams at 3d. a time went ‘like hot cakes’.
While the word “hotcake” dates back to the late 17th century and ”pancake” first appears in England around 1400, this phrase, with the figurative meaning “to be in great demand,” didn’t appear until around 1840 and there’s no evidence of a great hotcake demand that might have led to its creation. Instead, etymologists are left to assume that since hotcakes have always been popular at events like county fairs and church socials, where the crowd greatly outnumbers the culinary staff and the cakes often sell as fast as they can be made, the term was coined and spread through popular usage.
Upvote:4
It's a figure of speech, not a reference to some historical type of cake.
The image is that the demand for something (cakes in this example) is so high that producers (bakers) will be able to sell them immediately after the production is finished (cakes come out of the oven, and are still hot) - unlike the usual way where products will be on display for a bit (and cool down).
More post
- 📝 Where did the railroad companies find workers to build the rails?
- 📝 Is there mutual significance in the year 1807, so far as abolition of the slave trade in Britain and the United States is concerned?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of countries using pandemics as an excuse for banning protests?
- 📝 Who was the first military force to use teppo (guns) in mass battles during the Sengoku-jidai?
- 📝 Did the Roman senate immediately send new governors after the death of proconsuls/propraetors?
- 📝 What is the use of vinegar as a component in ancient ink receipes?
- 📝 Where did prejudice against left-handed people originate from?
- 📝 How could it be that 80% of townspeople were farmers during the Edo period in Japan?
- 📝 What were all the countries of the First, Second and Third Worlds, when WWII ended?
- 📝 Did Freemasons hold Enlightenment ideals?
- 📝 Identify WW2 ammo
- 📝 Why did James Baldwin call it "magnificent twenties"?
- 📝 What was the likely death toll of the Tudor invasion of ireland?
- 📝 During World War II, in the U.S., were diapers available?
- 📝 Did the Vikings practice voluntary human sacrifice?
- 📝 Detailed dimensions of the Colosseum
- 📝 What role did Lucky Luciano play in facilitating the invasion of Sicily?
- 📝 Who is "A Gentleman"? (The listed tranlator of the 1758 English edition of Tusculan Disputations)
- 📝 Did the Founding Fathers of the USA really make a distinction between a Republic and a Democracy (and despised the latter)?
- 📝 Were the English behind the creation of Belgium?
- 📝 Why would people join a bloc party?
- 📝 Are the following 5 tenets of historical record examination considered complete today?
- 📝 Did the Torch operation help doom the Germans at Stalingrad?
- 📝 How do historians decide who to refer to as 'the allies?'
- 📝 How many stones high are the pyramids of Giza?
- 📝 What were the logistics of the the Tehran Conference of 1943?
- 📝 What is the flag in this 17th century painting?
- 📝 Was the N.E.P. of Russia successful in terms of economics?
- 📝 How did the Allies communicate during World War II?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was so "hot" about hot cakes?
- 📝 What was unreasonable about Austria's ultimatum to Serbia?
- 📝 What was Wilhelm II's "book about the causes of the war"?
- 📝 Considering what was known about Hitler in 1933, why would German bishops declare that Catholics could cooperate with the new State?
- 📝 What was different about the "right" (recto) side of papyrus sheets compared to the other side?
- 📝 What was special about ground foods for sacrificial meals?
- 📝 Former French PM Blum was in Buchenwald -- what is known about his life there?
- 📝 What was so technologically advanced about the snorkel?
- 📝 What was the value of a thousand talents in Roman Palestine about AD 33?
- 📝 What was said about Vermont in the Paris negotiations of 1782?
- 📝 What was the official policy of British administration about the integration of Indian Princely States in 1947?
- 📝 What was the Soviet reaction to the revelations about secret US programs like Projects ARTICHOKE, MKULTRA, MOCKINGBIRD, etc., revealed in the 1970s?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What did Germany do in World War II about the different rail gauge in the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What did people in 13th century England know about Greek mythology?
- 📝 What is the oldest authentic example of people complaining about modern times and the young?
- 📝 How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
- 📝 What was the religion of the Arabic people before conversion to Islam?
- 📝 What was the purpose of Nazi extermination camps?
- 📝 What was wrong with Hitler's left hand?
- 📝 What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
- 📝 What was the function of the walls of Jericho?
- 📝 What was the pound (unit of weight) initially equal to?
- 📝 At what point was the Byzantine Empire's decline irreversible?