# In restaurants, why is it called a check and not a bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881 "2007-01-28T22:55:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/1 "2007-01-28T22:55:31Z")
“Waiter, bill please!” would be more appropriate, wouldn’t it? Why is it called a “check”? ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/2 "2007-01-28T22:57:54Z")
Especially since ‘cheque’ is the thing you use to pay a bill with. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/3 "2007-01-28T23:12:26Z")
[This](http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20070121105613AADkCzJ) explanation is interesting but somehow I don’t believe it. Is anybody prepared to check it out on their next visit to a restaurant? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/4 "2007-01-28T23:23:46Z")
Wouldn’t a better word be ‘invoice’? That alleged explanation is setting off my BS-o-meter as well. How the hell could you tell that someone was getting ill from your food, unless he or she was already pale, shaking, or barfing all over the place? Doesn’t most food poisoning take longer to take hold? Seems they’d miss most victims. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/5 "2007-01-28T23:39:59Z")
With the three words mentioned…Check, Bill and Invoice, check is the only one that you can ‘sign’ in the air at a distant waitress. …what?.. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/6 "2007-01-28T23:48:32Z")
[QUOTE=ltfire] With the three words mentioned..Check, Bill and Invoice, check is the only one that you can ‘sign’ in the air at a distant waitress. ..what?.. [/QUOTE] Yet Brits do the same thing, but never call it a check. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/7 "2007-01-28T23:48:42Z")
There’s one suggestion [here:](http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2002-11-19/blake.html) > [@](#): > > The use of “bill” as a note of charges for goods delivered or services rendered, in which the cost of each item is separately listed has been in the English language since the early 15th century. Today it implies a demand for payment. > > However, “check,” meaning a restaurant bill, is used chiefly in the United States. The first recorded use was by Adeline Dutton Whitney, an immensely popular writer for almost half a century of books for girls. From her novel Patience Strong’s Outings, 1869, comes the first use of the word “check”: “I let her settle for the dinner checks.” Doesn’t actually say why check and not bill, though. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/8 "2007-01-29T00:38:09Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] There’s one suggestion [here:](http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2002-11-19/blake.html) Doesn’t actually say why check and not bill, though. [/QUOTE] So what did the word “check” mean in 1863 in America? -Kris ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/9 "2007-01-29T01:14:27Z")
[QUOTE=ltfire] With the three words mentioned..Check, Bill and Invoice, check is the only one that you can ‘sign’ in the air at a distant waitress. ..what?.. [/QUOTE] Do people call it the check? I always call it the bill, and make a writing motion with my hand if I want to signal the waitperson. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/10 "2007-01-29T01:28:29Z")
Here in Ontario, waitstaff kindly correct me when I ask for the check – “Oh, the bill? I’ll bring that right out.” I try to remember “bill” instead of check, and luckily I’m not ever in a position where I should have to write “cheque” instead of the proper way. 😉 Still, I’ll never, ever bring myself to ask for “brown” bread. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/11 "2007-01-29T01:28:39Z")
In the 19th century, restaurants didn’t offer as many choices as modern eateries do. There wasn’t as much variety in the American diet as we have today. Maybe some big-city restaurants in places like New York had preprinted order pads that read something simple like this: Soup Beef Ham Potatoes Cabbage The waiter would check off the diner’s choices and hand them to the cook. Later on, the same or similar checked-off bill would be handed to the diner to pay. This is only a WAG. IANAP (I am not a philologist.) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/12 "2007-01-29T04:51:38Z")
While we’re awaiting a definitive answer, I’ll add a query to the OP-that being, why is it called a bar 'tab? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/13 "2007-01-29T04:59:49Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] While we’re awaiting a definitive answer, I’ll add a query to the OP-that being, why is it called a bar 'tab? [/QUOTE] Short for “tabulation”? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/14 "2007-01-29T06:10:06Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] So what did the word “check” mean in 1863 in America? -Kris [/QUOTE] I always wondered if it was related to an old “counter check”, that bringing the check was a counter check to pay your bill to the restaraunt. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/15 "2007-01-29T06:10:17Z")
Interstingly enough, the many modern meanings of “check” all appear to trace back to its origin as a term for an [attack on the king](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=check) in chess. > [@](#): > > c.1314, from [O.Fr](http://O.Fr). eschequier “a check at chess,” from eschec, from V.L. \*scaccus, from Ar. shah, from Pers. shah “king,” the principal piece in a chess game (see shah). When the king is in check a player’s choices are limited. Meaning widened from chess to general sense of “adverse event, sudden stoppage” and by c.1700 to “a token used to check against loss or theft” (surviving in hat check) and “a check against forgery or alteration,” which gave the modern financial use of “bank check, money draft” (first recorded 1798), probably influenced by exchequeur. I believe “check” in the sense of a business token or document (hat check, baggage check, rain check) is more common in the United States. “Check” in the sense of a bank draft seems to equally common in all English-speaking countries, although the Brits spell it as “cheque”. Although the source above cites “check” as a bank draft from as far back as 1798, bank checks didn’t become common in the U.S. until the late 1800’s when state banks were forbidden from issuing bank notes and created checking accounts as a substitute. Given that restaurant checks were so named as far back as 1869, before bank checks were common, and that this usage appears to be largely confined to America, I’m inclined to think that it was coined as a generalization of the hat check/rain check “family” of checks. It’s a document used to check against being over-charged or under-charged for your meal, much like a hat check is a check against losing your hat. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/16 "2007-01-29T06:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] [This](http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index.php?qid=20070121105613AADkCzJ) explanation is interesting but somehow I don’t believe it. Is anybody prepared to check it out on their next visit to a restaurant? [/QUOTE] I work in a restaurant and although I know nothing about the historical sense claimed, as far as being asked to get checked out and claiming the “cashier will know what you’re talking about”, that is absolutely bogus. If a guest ever asked me to check them out I would either say “You’re smoking hot!” or “You’re just not my type, sorry” accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/17 "2007-01-29T15:39:38Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Do people call it the check? I always call it the bill, and make a writing motion with my hand if I want to signal the waitperson. [/QUOTE] But “check, please!” is a common expression, as alluded to by the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-restaurants-why-is-it-called-a-check-and-not-a-bill/389881/18 "2007-01-29T18:10:45Z")
Perhaps becasue you are requesting to “check” the final tally before you pay. Sort of like an account would check his numbers one last time before he closes an account. :dubious: