Showing posts with label Ottoman Empire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ottoman Empire. Show all posts

Mar 7, 2014

Sliced Bread

Speaking of time, sliced bread was introduced in 1928 by Otto Frederick Rohwedder. Before then, bread was sold in whole loaves as bakers didn't believe sliced bread could stay fresh. Betty White was born in 1922 and that makes her older than sliced bread.

Also, 1922 was the last year of the Ottoman Empire, when it was taken over by the Turkish government. It was also 14 years after the last time the Chicago Cubs won a World Series, in 1908. The record still stands at 105 years.

Nov 23, 2013

Wordology, Turkey

In the 16th century, when North American turkeys were first introduced to Europe, there was another bird that was popularly imported throughout Europe, called a guinea fowl. This guinea fowl was imported from Madagascar via the Ottoman Empire. The merchant importers were known as “turkey merchants”. The guinea fowl themselves eventually were popularly referred to as “turkey fowl”, similar to how other product imported through the Ottoman Empire acquired their names, such as “turkey corn”, “turkey wheat”, etc.

The North American turkey was first introduced to Spain in the very early 16th century and later introduced to all of Europe. The North American turkey was thought by many to be a species of the type of guinea fowl that was imported from the Ottoman Empire and also were called a “turkey fowl” in English and later shortened to just turkey.