Selling Like Hotcakes

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Why, yes, I’ve been told I do.

She was setting us up. She was ready for it.

Hello, who is this?

This is Betty Anderson calling from Coronado, California.

Well, Betty, you’re a snappy one. Welcome to the program.

Thank you. I have a question.

All right.

They’re selling like hotcakes.

Yeah, what are they?

Well, I can’t imagine a hotcake stand doing a brisk business.

Oh, maybe. Maybe.

So I don’t understand where that came from.

I remember seeing a cartoon like in Mad Magazine when I was young, and it showed this guy at a hot cake stand, and they’re piled high, and he has no business, and he’s got this confused look on his face.

So I’m just wondering where that came from and where that came from.

That’s great. That’s great because you’ve sort of crystallized the idea there.

It’s an expression that’s been around since the 1830s or so.

And ordinarily, unlike in Mad Magazine, if you’re at an outdoor event and somebody’s cooking up hotcakes, he’s not going to pile up a whole bunch of inventory.

They’re going to cook them up and they’re going to sell the second they come out of the pan because you’ve got to sell them while they’re still hot.

Absolutely.

Yeah, so you can picture them just coming right out of the pan.

I mean, if you said selling like muffins or selling like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it just wouldn’t be the same thing.

I got it.

I love that.

That’s great.

And by cake, we might not mean something that looks like a pancake.

It might be something a little more like a small biscuit or a small cakey roll, something like that.

But the key being hot.

Hot, yeah.

Nobody wants to buy a cold one.

Yeah, hot off the griddle.

And it’s just so funny that that Mad Magazine sort of is the joke right there.

Yeah, he looked very confused.

Like, why do I have all these hotcakes nobody’s buying?

That’s it.

That’s it.

That’s exactly it.

Well, I’m glad that you’re a Mad Magazine fan.

I love those little ones in the margins, too.

Don’t you?

Oh, absolutely.

Spy versus spy.

And the fold-out.

Well, thank you, guys.

I love, love, love your show.

Oh, that’s nice to hear.

Oh, man, it’s great to hear from you.

Thank you so much for calling, Betty.

Thanks for calling.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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