Why Is There “Flash” in the Word “Flashlight”?

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. You know, Grant, if you think about it, flashlight is a weird word, isn’t it?

Flashlight, the thing with batteries in it that gives out light so you can see in the darkness. Flashlight?

Yes, a steady beam of light, though. So why is it called a flashlight?

Right, it’s steady. Okay. All right. You figured it out, though, right?

I did, and the answer actually involves a couple of fascinating stories, one of which shows how old words can take on new meanings, and another one which tells us about how hard it can be to coin a word and try to get people to continue to use it.

Now, in the case of flashlights, these portable electric lights were invented back in the 1890s.

And back then, batteries were so weak and their bulbs were so inefficient that they would only emit light for just a few seconds at a time.

So they literally were flashlights.

You’d hold up the light and turn it on, and you’d briefly see what was in front of you.

And then the light would shut off, and the batteries would have to rest a while.

And then you could turn it on a little bit later.

So initially, these devices were called flashers or flashlights, at least in the U.S.

In the U.K., they were first called portable electric torches.

And now today, they’re just called torches.

Over the next few years, the batteries and the bulbs improved, but people still called them flashlights.

So that name stuck around even as its meaning changed.

But here’s the other part that I think is really cool.

That technology soon advanced so much that the EverReady Flashlight Company decided to have a contest to coin a new word for these devices.

And back in 1916, they ran ads about this contest all over the country.

Come up with a better word for flashlight, and we’ll give you $3,000, which is roughly $87,000 today.

Wow.

I know. It was brilliant marketing.

There was lots of press, lots of excitement, lots of local feature stories and newspapers about people who entered the contest to create a word for what EverReady called the product that has outgrown its name.

And so a few months later, the EverReady company decided that we’re not just going to pay out $3,000, we’re going to pay out $12,000 to four different contestants who supposedly independently came up with the same winning name.

And you want to know the winning entry in this contest?

Oh, boy, do I.

Day-low.

Dew, dew, dew, dew.

Yeah, exactly.

Sad trombone.

Exactly.

Day-low, D-A-Y-L-O.

I don’t get it either.

But everybody said, oh, day-low is easy to remember and pronounce in the day part,

Suggests perfect light, and low means behold.

But obviously, it didn’t change people’s linguistic habits because, you know,

You don’t have $3,000 involved, you’re going to go back to your old word.

Oh, Dalo.

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And on this show, when we say, that’s a great question, we ain’t just talking.

We mean it.

So come to us with your best questions.

And Martha and I will try to come to you with our best answers.

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