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Hello All,
My girlfriend and I think we heard a term mentioned on the show: a very peculiar word to describe someone who loves food or loves to eat. Not "epicure" not "gourmand", not Gourmet, not foodie. Never heard it before, never heard it since (but it has only been a week). We suspect that we heard the word mentioned on the show of March 8, but we just listened to it again and did not hear it. Could have been on NPR, Saturday Weekend Edition afterwards. No online synonym search has resulted in anything. Could be a newly coined term.
We thought it was a very interesting word, and we were both sure that we would forget it. We were right - completely gone. We both think it starts with an S, but that might of course not be correct at all.
Can anyone help?
Thanks!
I suspect the original meaning of slap-sauce was close to gourmand, and developed the connotation of a sponge or hanger-on. From an English-Italian dictionary of 1832:
SLAP-SAUCE, lick-dish, un leccaplatti, un goloso, un leccardo, un ghiottone.
Lick-dish or leccaplatti tells the story. You can see this dude hanging around after dinner to gobble up all the leftovers!
Hi there!
I'm a few days late, but in case anybody happens to read this thread.....I am actually just doing research on slapsauce for my blog, and can help out a wee bit.
In A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles by James Murray (the original OED), it is shown as an obsolete word meaning "one who is fond of good eating; a greedy or gluttonous person"
It is derived from an obsolete meaning of the verb 'slap,' to lap or gobble up, plus 'sauce.'
Slapsauce is also shown in other old dictionaries as a parasite or hanger-on, with the etymology shown in some as coming from the verb, slop, to spill.
polistra said
I suspect the original meaning of slap-sauce was close to gourmand, and developed the connotation of a sponge or hanger-on. From an English-Italian dictionary of 1832:
SLAP-SAUCE, lick-dish, un leccaplatti, un goloso, un leccardo, un ghiottone.
Lick-dish or leccaplatti tells the story. You can see this dude hanging around after dinner to gobble up all the leftovers!
Over a century ago, there was a Lick Skillet school near or on my mother's childhood farm. I always pictured a hungry individual.
Wikipedia has 4 entries related to Lick Skillet.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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