I did not know that King Dons are now called Ding Dongs. I just thought people [del]were stupid[/del] never pronounced the name correctly.
I haven’t eaten them since junior high school (1982), which would explain my lack of “vogue”, but unfortunately I got into a debate with someone over what is the real name of these things, and we’re both right (sez me), but he’s more right than me…dang…
Apparently republicanism has spread to the snack cake industry.
You are both right, sorta. They were always Ding Dongs in my part of the world, but were King Dons in the eastern U.S. Hostess consolidated the naming several years ago: http://www.twinkies.com/faq.asp
And, interestingly, Hostess only says on their trademark application, that they started using “King Dons” in 1972. It may have taken that long for someone to complain. Not that the name “Ding Dongs” was trademarked before Hostess in 1967.
I remember one night in High School (in the early '80s) when we were supposed to be at the library but we went cruising for King Dons specifically- not Ding Dongs, mind you- until we found them.
This was what passed for geek entertainment in Western, NY.
It was kinda fun, actually.
Hostess Ding Dongs!
It’s a cake!
It’s a candy!
It’s two taste treats in one!
Never growing up hearing “King Dons,” I always have a vision of a boxing promoter with incredible hair when you use that phrase. :eek:
Very odd. What’s the definition of “Eastern US”? I grew and lived in New York, and they were always “Ding Dongs” (though I usually got Drake’s Wing Dings).
Hmm, I’d never heard of King Dons until this thread. Wonder what the definition of “east” is.
I grew up in central NJ, Hostess were King Dons and Drake’s were Ring Dings.
Ding Dongs up here in Boston.
That’s weird. I grew up in Central NJ too, and they were Ding Dongs. Never heard of King Dons.
(my mom also liked to call me a ding dong when i did something dumb.)
I can’t seem to find Ding Dongs anymore. The grocery stores near me have Twinkies, Cupcakes, Ho Hos and Zingers, but no Ding Dongs. 
I’m originally from Central Ohio. And I only remember King Dons. But I’m wondering if maybe there was also something called Ding Dongs that could be gotten (the same type of cake but made by a different company- is that what we’re talking about?), and maybe they just didn’t happen to sell them at my school. No Hostess product ever came through the front door of my house growing up. My parents didn’t go for that stuff. So I got my only “exposure” at school.
Same here, though I had a much bigger love for Devil Dogs.
Me TOO.
No, this is weird. In Canada, I swear, they used to be Ding Dongs, and now they’re King Dons.
I don’t eat them, but my husbanddoes.
If a boxing promoter with royalist pretensions was also an idiot, would he be a King Don Ding Dong?
More than Marcia?
