By Thomas Sellers Jr.
I’m sure today, January 27, I will properly observe Thomas Crapper.
I am willing to bet every since 1982 I have paid appropriate tribute to the legacy of Crapper. Some say Crapper invented the flush toilet. While not an actual inventor, Crapper is given credit for making our toilet more modern.
Crapper was a journeyman plumber who started his own London-based business in 1861. As time passed, Crapper matured into businessman and marketer giving him the platform to popularize the flush toilet, indoor plumbing, and bathroom fixtures.
Also known as the toilet, latrine, restroom, water closet, the John and the Crapper. I didn’t know that everyday items were named after an actual human.
It got me thinking on this 2022 Thomas Crapper Day, what other everyday items have the moniker of a real-life person? I did some research for this Best Sellers List and here are the first 10 that shocked me.
10. Boycott
Back in the fall, workers at Kellogg’s began a boycott for better wages. I was always under the impression boycotting was a clever name derived from young boys striking against poor work conditions and being underage. But Boycotting got its name from the man against whom the first organized boycott was aimed.
During the famine of 1879, Charles Cunningham Boycott was hired by aristocratic landowners to collect rent from Irish tenant farmers. The Irish National Land League rallied when Boycott tried to evict 11 farmers for failure to pay. The INL convinced the natives to stop doing business Boycott… giving us the first boycott.
9. Shrapnel
I have never been in war and don’t plan to partake in combat anytime soon. But I have heard of Shrapnel. I always thought it was just metal debris that flies at lethal speed from explosions. So who has the honor of giving their name to a deadly part of warfare? Major General Henry Shrapnel is the correct answer. Shrapnel is known for designing a new kind of bomb in 1784, what he called “spherical case” ammunition. Forms of the shrapnel bomb (called an “anti-personnel” bomb) were used clear into WWI. The name eventually came to mean any fragmentation resulting from an explosion.
8. Leotard
Never worn one of these but I have heard about them on a regular basis. The Leotard is named for its inventor, Jules Léotard. He was a French trapeze artist from the mid-1800s. Léotard must have worn the tight one-piece bodysuit while dancing, doing gymnastics and other disciplines that involve a lot of movement.
7. Tupperware
Any plastic container I store my leftovers in is Tupperware. I don’t care about the brand name, I refer to it as Tupperware. Thank you Earl Silas Tupper for your useful invention of portable plastic food containers.
After working in the plastics division at DuPont, Tupper founded the Earl S. Tupper company in 1938. It was there Tupper focused on developing plastic consumer goods, eventually inventing a more durable and resilient type of plastic. Every Monday, I walk to my desk with at least two containers of Tupperware from Sunday dinner. It beats a paper plate wrapped in aluminum foil.
6. Macadamia Nuts
My Goddaughter’s favorite cookie is Macadamia nut. Always thinking Macadamia nuts were some Hawaiian treat, I thought the nut was named after a region.
I was totally off the location and meaning of the name. Macadamia nuts come from Australia.
They’re named for a famous 19th century chemist/politician John Macadam. But he didn’t discover them or introduce them to the west. Ferdinand Von Mueller, a friend of Macadam, named the food item after him. Mueller sent the plant to be studied at the Botanical Gardens in Brisbane. The research by the botanists paid off leading to a delicious treat for us all.
5. Salisbury Steak
I kind of knew this savory main course had a proper name. But once again I was thinking about a region of the world. Instead, James Salisbury has the honor of having his name loaned to the Salisbury Steak. The 19th-century American doctor shared his beliefs on foods like fruits, vegetables and starches. He said that trio was the worst thing people could eat producing toxins in the human body just to digest them. Salibury’s solution was a diet of lean meats. To help his diet cause, Salisbury invented the Salisbury steak.
The meat became popular in frozen dinners ensembles and school cafeterias.
4. Graham Crackers
I work with a man named Graham. His grandfather used to call him “Cracker.” Not the best nickname but giving the cracker the name Graham was actually pretty cool. Sylvester Graham, a 19th-century diet proponent, felt that people should ingest mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. He was the opposite of Dr. Salisbury telling people to avoid meats and any sort of spice.
Graham thought his diet would keep his patients from having impure thoughts too. So to help our diets and spirit, Graham invented the cracker that bears his name as one of the staples of this anti-self-abuse diet.
3. Silhouette
As an artist, I have used silhouette in graphics and as a way to cleverly illustrate something. The shadow effect or outline of an object is a common form of art. But the origin of the name is not a good thing in this case. Etienne de Silhouette was a strict French finance minister. He made drastic cuts to the upper class during the Seven Years’ War. His name was used to describe anything cheaply made and soon became synonymous with the simple portraits. Time has healed this wound somewhat as the Silhouette challenge on TikTok and how some people are honored to have an identifiable outline.
2. Saxophone
One of my favorite instruments of all time was actually named after a person. This was surprising to me during my research. Adolphe Sax invented and improved on a lot of horns during the 19th century. But the main instrument that represents the horn family was bestowed with Sax’s name. Sax’s main goal in improving the horn was making an instrument that blew like a horn but could be manipulated with the agility of a woodwind. Before his death in 1894, Sax had to claim bankruptcy twice because he wasn’t given proper credit for his patent. But today we think of him as the father of modern music.
1. Nachos
One of the best food items in the world are Nachos. I figured they came from MexicoY but I didn’t know they were actually named after a person. I assumed it was a nickname and I was correct about that. In 1943 Ignacio Anaya—better known by his nickname “Nacho” was working at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico. Close to the Texas border, according to legend, several American servicemen stationed at Fort Duncan near Eagle Pass came to Nacho’s restaurant as it was closing down.
Because the servicemen were with their wives, Nacho displayed some mercy and made them dinner. He improvised by cutting up a bunch of tortillas, sprinkled them with cheddar and jalapenos and popped them in the oven. Giving us the birth to delicious Nachos.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Magic Valley Publishing. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to [email protected].
