The Meaning Of The Term “Lollipop” Is “Tongue Slap”

July 20th recognizes National Lollipop Day as a way to celebrate this enduring and ever-popular treat. Pick up your favorite flavor to savor!

Ever delightful and sweet, lollipops have been satisfying the sweet tooth for generations and possibly for centuries. How long lollipops have existed is uncertain. During prehistoric times, a form of lollipop may have preserved nuts and berries in honey. As sugar became plentiful, lollipops appeared much later in 16th century Europe.

• The first known use of the word lollipop was in the mid 1780s. Charles Dickens used it to refer to stick-less candies. At another time it a different place it’s what they called sweetmeat on a stick.
• The meaning of the term “Lollipop” is “tongue slap”.
• In the United States, confectionaries and medicine shops as early as the 1860s sold lollipops in various forms.
• The first instances of the creation were thought of by a confectioner named George Smith. In 1892, he created lollipops and sold them to the public, although he did not call it a lollipop
• However, George Smith gave lollipops an official 20th-century story in 1908. He gets credit for inventing the modern style lollipop.
• Around the same time, the McAviney Candy Company stumbled upon the idea as well and began mass-producing lollipops in 1905.
• In 1931, Smith trademarked the name which he claims came from his favorite racing horse, Lolly Pops.
• It wasn’t until 1932 that the Bradley Smith Company patented the name “lollipop” for their candy on a stick. By the time the company began producing these sweets, the Great Depression hit, which quickly decreased the lollipop’s popularity.
• 1934 – In the movie Bright Eyes, Shirley Temple sang the song “On the Good Ship Lollipop.”
• 1939 – The Wizard of Oz brought us a world of characters, including the Lollipop Guild. Armed with a giant spiral sucker, The Lollipop Guild welcomed Dorothy to the Land of Oz.
• 1969 – How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop. The Tootsie Pop (the trademark name for Tootsie Roll’s lollipop) commercial debuted on U.S. television. The 60-second advertisement included a boy, cow, fox, turtle, owl and the narrator.
• 1973-1978 -The lollipop-loving detective, Kojak, from the TV series of the same name, softened the tough guy while at the same time, toughened up the lollipop.
• The original lollipop machine would produce 40 Lollipops per minute but the modern ones make 5,900 a minute.
• Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc.
• Cotton Candy is the most common flavor for lollipops.
• Dum Dum’s mystery flavor is a pretty simple recipe. They’re created as one flavor batch is running out and the next one is beginning, whatever those two may be.
• Dum Dums were originated by Akron Candy Company in Bellevue, Ohio, in 1924. I.C. Bahr, the early sales manager of the company, named the ball-shaped candy on a stick and figured Dum Dums was a word any child could say.
• The world’s largest lollipop was made in 2012. The confectioner behind the job was See’s Candies of California, and their creation weighed over 7 thousand pounds. It was chocolate-flavored.
• The label for Chupa Chup lollipops was designed and illustrated by the famed surrealist artist Salvador Dali.
• Tootsie Roll is the largest manufacturer of lollipops: they produce over 16 million sweet suckers every single day!
• Dum Dum lollipops were given their name because the inventor felt it would be an easy name for children to pronounce and remember.
• A 0.5 oz (14 g) lollipop has 26 calories.
• The first song on lollypops was made by “The Chordettes” in 1958.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

Wockenfuss Candies

Savage Facts