# Things which aren't from where their name suggests **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2018, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000 "2018-11-05T11:38:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/161 "2018-11-08T17:51:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I did a search of the thread and couldn’t find where anyone had posted English muffins, which are neither. The same can be said of the English horn, a double-reed woodwind that originated in Silesia. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/162 "2018-11-08T17:58:04Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > What’s beautiful? All of Moscow, or just that cemetary? The cemetery. Moscow is fascinating, but I would not call it beautiful. St Petersburg, OTOH, \*is \*beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/163 "2018-11-08T18:07:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I did a search of the thread and couldn’t find where anyone had posted English muffins, which are neither. Neither what nor what? When I was a kid (in England), that’s what the word “muffin” meant to me. Still does, actually, though I concede that their claim to the name has been largely supplanted by the large cupcake-esque thing which is also called a muffin. If you offered my kids a muffin, they’d expect the cake rather than the bread. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/164 "2018-11-08T18:14:43Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > _Snickers_ (US) has always contained peanuts. I haven’t seen a US _Mars_ Bar in years, but unless I’m mistaken it was simply renamed _Snickers With Almonds_. Close enough for me, anyway- the Mars Bar was always one of my favorites. Back when I was getting used to candy bars costing a dime instead of a nickle, a Mars Bar was one of my favorites. It had four (_count 'em! FOUR!_) whole almonds lined up in a little dashed line along the top, the whole thing lovingly enveloped in a milk chocolate coat. Then, for reasons that I can’t fully recall, I experienced an extended hiatus in my candy bar-buying habits. When I returned, the first Mars Bar I bought was missing those welcoming almond-shaped lumps on their dorsal surface. They still _had_ almonds, but they were merely chopped-up bits and pieces of almonds, haphazardly embedded on top of the nougat. I tried accepting their departure and adopting the new _ersatz_ Mars Bar into my candy bar repertoire\*, but it was no good. With deep regret, I dropped the Mars Bar from my personal Candy Bar Fantasy League lineup. \*“Candy Bar Repertoire” would be a good name for a song. Maybe Dave Frishberg could write it, the way he did [_Van Lingle Mungo_](https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&rlz=1C1ZCEB_enUS820US821&ei=u3rkW5T9FOGf0wLYt4nwDw&q=van+lingle+mungo+lyrics&oq=van+lingle+mungo&gs_l=psy-ab.3.3.0l4j0i22i30l4.35148.39587..45244...0.0..0.102.1238.15j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i67j0i10j0i22i10i30.ZC2DoiC1HOM), his tour de force consisting of a list exclusively made up of the names of Major League Baseball players of yore. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/165 "2018-11-08T18:36:08Z")
Baked Alaska ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/166 "2018-11-08T19:09:21Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > _Snickers_ (US) has always contained peanuts. I haven’t seen a US _Mars_ Bar in years, but unless I’m mistaken it was simply renamed _Snickers With Almonds_. Close enough for me, anyway- the Mars Bar was always one of my favorites. Snickers Almond has caramel on it; an American Mars bar did not. I hadn’t realized they were discontinued, but apparently they were in 2002, but Wikipedia tells me they have occasionally popped up in limited runs since then. I guess Walmart sold them in 2010 and part of 2011; and now some gourmet subsidiary of Mars has been selling it in their stores and Amazon since 2017, though I only see the UK version on Amazon now, so maybe Wikipedia needs an update. Huh. Somehow I never noticed their absence. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/167 "2018-11-08T19:29:59Z")
The [sandwich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich#The_sandwich) is not named after the Sandwich Islands! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/168 "2018-11-08T19:35:24Z")
> [@Corner\_Case](#): > > The [sandwich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich#The_sandwich) is not named after the Sandwich Islands! 😃 They were, however, both named after the same person, the [4th Earl of Sandwich.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/169 "2018-11-08T19:57:06Z")
Throw out your hands!! Stick out your tush!! Hands on your hips Give them a push!! You’ll be surprised You’re doing the French Mistake!! VOILA!! > [@eschereal](#): > > There is a town in New York, up the Hudson, called Red Hook. Not much of a town, but I have heard of it enough that when I saw my first bottle of Red Hook, I asked why they named it for a town in New York. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I suspect that Red Hook is better known as a neighborhood in Brooklyn. Captain America is from Red Hook Brooklyn. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/170 "2018-11-08T21:23:45Z")
David Letterman once went to several San Francisco restaurants asking on-camera for Rice-A-Roni, “the San Francisco treat,” and was not too surprised when none of them had it on the menu. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/171 "2018-11-08T21:28:50Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The same can be said of the English horn, a double-reed woodwind that originated in Silesia. Cor **anglé** (bent horn) was misheard as cor anglais (English horn) ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/172 "2018-11-08T21:55:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > David Letterman once went to several San Francisco restaurants asking on-camera for Rice-A-Roni, “the San Francisco treat,” and was not too surprised when none of them had it on the menu. I’ve heard that chow mein was invented by Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/173 "2018-11-08T21:58:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > David Letterman once went to several San Francisco restaurants asking on-camera for Rice-A-Roni, “the San Francisco treat,” and was not too surprised when none of them had it on the menu. [Rice-A-Roni was invented in San Francisco.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice-A-Roni) It’s not served in restaurants, but then again, neither is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or Hamburger Helper. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/174 "2018-11-08T22:41:27Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Baked Alaska Nor is [Omelette norvégienne](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omelette_norv%C3%A9gienne) Norwegian. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/175 "2018-11-09T00:53:43Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > With England and the Netherlands having long engaged in hot rivalry for trade and empire – and having fought the odd war with each other over same – the English have a tendency toward cliche-metaphors re things Dutch (as also with things French), generally implying as per **DavidwithanR** ’s words. > > Not “Dutch oven” that I’m aware of; but (with the Dutch having a name for stinginess among other things) – Dutch treat (everyone pays for themselves); Dutch courage (the sort of courage you get from a bottle); Dutch auction (not like the Chinese auction mentioned upthread, but one where the bidding starts high and gets progressively lower; Dutch wife (a large pillow which you can cuddle in the absence of a live partner); Dutch uncle (an older, wise adviser / mentor – unrelated, so not quite as good as a genuine uncle). AFAIK, nothing directly sex-related – maybe Calvinists tend to be limited and unimaginative in their sexual doings 😉 . The Dutch Cap is a name for the diaphragm or cervical cap barrier method of contraception. Predating that name similar methods have been used for centuries. it’s possible the name came about because Margaret Sanger who popularised the method to the States got the idea in the Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/176 "2018-11-09T00:58:48Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I’ve heard that chow mein was invented by Americans. Fortune cookies were invented in America (by Asian immigrants). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/177 "2018-11-09T01:08:58Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > What’s beautiful? All of Moscow, or just that cemetary? It sure isn’t the salad. I’d never heard of it before but it doesn’t seem to be something I’d eat. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/178 "2018-11-09T01:32:38Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > It sure isn’t the salad. I’d never heard of it before but it doesn’t seem to be something I’d eat. You’ve never had potato salad? That’s all it is, with some peas and carrot chunks thrown in, and maybe some chunks of ham and/or boiled tongue. Boiled tongue is actually quite good, especially when it’s sliced very thin and served with a little horseradish. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/179 "2018-11-09T04:28:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Snickers Almond has caramel on it; an American Mars bar did not. I hadn’t realized they were discontinued, but apparently they were in 2002, but Wikipedia tells me they have occasionally popped up in limited runs since then. I guess Walmart sold them in 2010 and part of 2011; and now some gourmet subsidiary of Mars has been selling it in their stores and Amazon since 2017, though I only see the UK version on Amazon now, so maybe Wikipedia needs an update. > > Huh. Somehow I never noticed their absence. Thank you for the correction and clarification, and for reminding me how good those old Mars Bars were. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000/180 "2018-11-09T04:46:04Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > [Rice-A-Roni was invented in San Francisco.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice-A-Roni) It’s not served in restaurants, but then again, neither is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or Hamburger Helper. Then again, neither do they mention any particular city in their advertising. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-which-arent-from-where-their-name-suggests/824000.md?page=10)