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“Ketchup.”
“Catsup.”
“Snobs call it ‘catsup’.”
“Not true. Used to be that’s all it was ever called.”
“What? Why’d it change?”
“Well, for one thing it’s been around for donkey’s years. Probably has a Chinese origin, called ‘ke-tsiap.’ It was kind of a runny fish sauce. Like most things, it changed across time. The main reason the name is now ketchup is that the Heinz company wanted their product to stand out, on the shelf, so they created the new name.”
“So, not much difference between catsup and ketchup?”
“Nope. Hey, could you pass the salt?”
Just Writing! 
Assuming that’s true it’s quite new to me. It’s always good to be able to find out all the really hidden details.
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I read about it in three different places, so am assuming it’s as true as it can be. Of course, thos three places may have just quoted each other 🙂
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You say tomayto catsup, I say tomahto ketchup. 😀
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🙂
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Funny in a snobbish way. You are correct, I know some people who insist the sauce is presented in a small condiment dish, silver, with a spoon.
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I suppose it looks nicer on the table that way 🙂
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I’m taking this tale cum grano salis
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Now, that phrase I know: with a grain of salt. Funny 🙂
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I don’t think I could ever get into using catsup. It just sounds weird! Thanks for the lesson!
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Agreed. It’s always been ketchup to me.
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🙂
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We just say tomato sauce 😊 But I’m not sure how much tomato is actually in a commercial sauce …
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You have a point…. 😉
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Thanks for that little bit of history. Who knew? You can see why ‘ketchup’ won out over ‘catsup’ in the end though!
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Yes. Ketchup is what it’s always been for me.
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Dear Linda,
One of my son’s young friends as a little girl called it keppich. That’s always stuck with me. Thanks for the history lesson. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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That’s really cute. One of those baby words that seems to please the whole family.
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yeah…you hate to correct them and let them stay little as long as possible. My oldest didn’t mispronounce much. But until he was 3 he called a hamburger a hamurmer.
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So many funny words come to mind. Our kids don’t always see the humor in them, but they a precious in our memories 🙂
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i guess it doesn’t really matter. like they say, a rose called by another name is still a rose. 🙂
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What an interesting tale! I’ve read about that fish sauce as a source for the umami taste. Do you pronounce Catsup like Ketchup?
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Yes. It’s always been ketchup.
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I’ve never heard of “catsup”. I went off and Googled it, and then saw that the rest of your story explained it 🙂
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What would we do without google 🙂
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Ketch or Cats, it’s UP to you! Best of luck with the salt by the way, it’s got a pepper pot lid on it!
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Someone else pointed that out, and I went back to look. I just don’t see much difference
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In Aus we call it Tomato Sauce!
A sauce by any other name still makes a hotdog
or a burger taste better! Haha
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That’s very interesting Linda. I’ve never felt comfortable with Catsup as it always made me think of something the cat’s brought up.
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Cat’s up(chuck)
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We always called it Cat-sup when I was younger. Never knew the dif until college.
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Nice history lesson. I can quite understand why ketchup is more appealing than catsup.
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Nicely done. I read (forget where) recently about how much sugar is in that stuff. I may be giving it up no matter what it’s called.
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Very interesting story, Linda. Love to learn new things, and like the others, I prefer “ketchup!”
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Thank you for the enjoyably told bit of history. I wonder if anyone ever makes their own catsup or ketchup these days.
pax,
dora
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Some do. I did myself when my kids were all home and I wasn’t working full time, but it’s very time consuming–has to be cooked down, stirred, cooked down–not worth it to me any more.
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Neat to hear the origin story of something so commonplace in every home.
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