5 familiar names you probably didn't know are also towns
Antje Binder db
July 25, 2017
Yes, a sandwich is two slices of bread with something in between. But did you know that the word actually goes back to a town in Britain and a man who was too busy to sit down to eat?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E.Elisseeva
Advertisement
5 familiar names you probably didn't know are also towns
Yes, a sandwich is two slices of bread with something in between. But did you know that the word actually goes back to a town in Britain and a man who was too busy to sit down to eat?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Spata
Sandwich
In the 18th century, dining followed rigid traditions that included a seating order, table etiquette and idle conversation. But even then, some people were terribly busy - like the 4th Earl of Sandwich from the English town of the same name. He is said to have invented what might be the world’s first fast food snack, perhaps because he was too busy playing cards.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E.Elisseeva
Rugby
Legend has it that William Webb Ellis, a student at Rugby School in the town of Rugby in central England, invented the sport. Supposedly, he grabbed the ball, ran with it and put it squarely into the other team's goal during a school football match in 1823. It was a breach of rules - but an entirely new game was born.
Image: Reuters/P. Noble
Badminton
This racket sport was not invented in England, but it became popular in Europe after a British colonial officer returned from India in 1872 with the game "Poona," which was highly popular on his country estate in Badminton. The Badminton Association of England officially launched the sport in 1893.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Watson
Limerick
Limerick five-line poetry was presumably invented in the 18th century in the town of the same name, in southwestern Ireland. The members of a local literature circle wrote poetry about everything under the sun: love, politics and their last drinking spree, always with a humorous slant, a distinct meter and rhyme scheme. Limericks are so catchy that they've made their way into many languages.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/S. Paul
Worcestershire
Outside of Britain, few people can pronounce the name of this condiment properly, so it can't be the name that made Worcestershire sauce popular. John Lea and William Perrins, both chemists in the English city of Worcester, county of Worcestershire, came up with the recipe in 1835. The mixture soon became an international - and much copied - hit.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/HIP
5 images1 | 5
In the mid-18th century, who could have predicted that the name of a medieval British town would one day literally be between everyone's lips? Today, the 4,500 residents of Sandwich in Kent are well aware of the history of the perhaps most famous snack in the world. It involves the story of John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich and - legend has it - the inventor of the sandwich.
Snack at the card table
The Earl is said to have been a bit of a rake, and he loved to play cards. He and his friends would spend hours at the card table, putting off meals or simply forgetting them. When he finally felt hungry, he would order his servants to prepare a quick snack, usually sliced meat wedged between two slices of bread. The cold meal was uncomplicated, and easy to eat while holding cards in his other hand.
Soon, the other players followed suit, ordering "what Sandwich is having." The snack stayed, and so did the name, at least according to legend.
Quick and easy
There's another version, however, that the Earl's descendants in particular like to tell. They say John Montagu was in fact such a hard-working man that he simply had no time to eat. Whichever version is true, the 4th Earl of Sandwich left the world a quick and easy to make snack, and that's what matters - today more than ever.
Other familiar household words also tie back to towns - click on the above High Five gallery to find out what they are!
