Lazy Susan

I have no idea why I all of the sudden was thinking about Lazy Susans, but here I am. And slightly irritated. This is my original thought about the use of a Lazy Susan: a negative term society and the media gave to a kitchen invention which was meant to save women time... but any woman who couldn't do her duty and drudge to the kitchen to fetch whatever was needed was surely a lazy, and virtue lacking, woman by society standards. A bit of a feminist bent, I know.

So a search to learn more about this device must be undertaken, with only minutes to give this search as we're headed out to kickoff Octoberfest. Thank goodness for people who love learning! I found a website by a British man named Michael Quinion, who appears to like researching words. After reading his entry on Lazy Susan, I have decided this term still holds some historical contempt for socio-economic circles. The earliest American use of the word was in an ad in the Christian Science Monitor, dating from 1912. But Quinion suggests, since this is not a new invention, that its European term was dumb-waiter, and I'm inclined to agree with his findings. Check out what he has to say here. I will probably peruse his website just to learn the history and transformed meaning of several words and phrases when I next get a moment.