Whenever I get the desire to have some chicken wings for supper, I must make sure we order two different types. I enjoy hot and spicy sauces; Patti likes mild flavours. Sometimes, we will get buffalo wings, as a compromise. The description ‘buffalo wings’ seems to be a misnomer, as it appears to be an inappropriate designation.
Misnomer comes from the Anglo-French verb mesnomer, meaning to misname. This is derived from the Latin word for name, which is nomen.
Buffalo have never had the ability to fly, so how can one eat buffalo wings? If such a large creature were to have wings, you would presume eating more than one could be quite filling. Buffalo wings are a deep-fried chicken wing coated with a spicy sauce and usually served with a blue cheese dressing. They originated in the city of Buffalo, New York. In 1977, the city of Buffalo issued an official proclamation celebrating Anchor Bar owners Frank and Teresa Bellissimo, who may have first developed the special sauce in 1964, and declared July 29, 1977, to be Chicken Wing Day. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Buffalo wings were offered regularly as a pub food or appetizer across the United States and Canada.
The word butterfly refers to any of numerous slender-bodied diurnal lepidopteran insects including one superfamily (Papilionoidea) with broad, often brightly coloured wings. Even though some try to force the issue, butterfly is not a spoonerism for ‘flutter by.’ Butterfly comes from the Old English buterfleoge, joining butere (butter) and fleoge (fly). The name may have come from a belief that witches took the shape of brightly coloured winged insects to steal milk and butter. Who knew?
Another misnomer is the red panda. It is a small, arboreal mammal, found from the Himalayas to China. It has long rusty or chestnut fur with dark underparts, a long bushy tail with rings, and a white face and inner ears with a dark stripe from the corners of the eyes to the lower jaw. Though bamboo is among its favourite foods, the mammal is not related to the most famous bamboo-eater, the giant panda. The red panda is related to skunks, weasels, and raccoons.
I like eating white chocolate but that seems like a misnomer. To qualify as chocolate, a food must be prepared from ground, roasted cacao beans. Although cacao beans are used to make white chocolate, it's not the roasted beans that are used. It is only the cocoa butter that is pressed out of the beans. The true chocolates, both milk and dark, have cocoa butter added back into the mixture of roasted cacao beans, sugar, lecithin, and flavourings.
The expression ‘gravy train’ is a misnomer, as it is not a train nor containing the gravy that might be poured on your turkey dinner. Since the early 20th century, the term ‘gravy train’ has been used to refer to a much exploited source of easy money. The gravy part refers to something additional or unexpected that is pleasing or valuable in the way that literal gravy can add some tasty and complementary moisture that is additional or unexpected. To say that all politicians are riding the gravy train is nonsense, but for some, perhaps it is true.
Ladybugs are small, nearly hemispherical, often brightly coloured, type of spotted beetle. They are found in temperate and tropical regions, and are known to feed on other insects, such as aphids. There are male ladybugs, so the name is a misnomer, approximately half the time. In fact, the first part of the ladybug's name is an allusion to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The first of the approximately 5,000 varieties of ladybugs to be referred to as such was likely the seven-spotted Coccinella septempunctata; its seven spots were thought to symbolize the seven sorrows the mother of Jesus suffered. My granddaughter Lily loves looking for and watching ladybugs.
My ancestors on my mother’s side were Pennsylvania Dutch. They moved to the Waterloo Country area of southern Ontario from eastern Pennsylvania. Their characteristic cultural traditions go back to the German migrations of the 18th century. They are not Dutch, the term is a misnomer. At the time of their arrival in America, all Germanic languages were called Deutch in English, whether they came from Germany, Holland, or any European area. The Pennsylvania Dutch took pride in their new status as American settlers, promoting the title of Pennsylvania Dutch, to distinguish themselves from other European Germans who began filtering into the United States later in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Misnomers tend to stick over the ages but often have some, often interesting, reason for the name. So, let us not get ‘bent out of shape’ if we get tagged with a misnomer label at times.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
