Lazy Susan
Al Yellon
lal...@delphi.com
>Subject: Lazy Susan
>Anyone know the origin of this term?
I asked your question to a friend in the diner furnishings business
(coincidentally, there is an increase in Lazy Susan sales due to the
resurgence of the diner as a trendy eating place in many U.S. cities).
Anyway, my friend advises that the item is named after Susan Bialystoker.
She lived in London during the 1850's and had enough inherited wealth to
be able to afford an eccentric lifestyle. It was said that she was so lazy
that she spent most of her days in bed having her meals brought to her there.
The turntable device was lazy Susan's idea so that she wouldn't have to
stretch her arm to get something from the far side of the tray. As is the
case with most slothful people, her laziness was her undoing. Her friends
thought the turntable was a wonderful idea, and that Susan should develop it
commercially. She was too lazy to do anything about it, so her butler stole
the idea and went into the Lazy Susan business. He named the device after
her and in the beginning he actually sold it as the Lazy Bialystoker.
It was later re-named when the butler was threatened with legal action by
Susan's lawyer. The butler made a fortune while Susan frittered away her
inheritance paying servants to bring her meals in bed, and paying her
lawyer to sue the butler.
Les
ShadowSong
<aye...@REMOVETHISinteraccess.com> wrote:
> Anyone know the origin of this term?
A Lazy Susan is a sort of platter thing placed in the middle of the table.
It has a base,on which the platter turns freely. (Like a wheel on an axle)
Stuff like salt, pepper, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, cream, etc is put on it
before a meal, and during the meal the individual diner turns the platter
until what s/he wants is in front of her/him and can be plucked off the
platter, used, and returned to the platter.
I think "Lazy Susan" is a Southern term. Why "Lazy" is obvious - people
don't even need to ask to be handed something or other, let alone actually
hand something to someone else. Why "Susan" I don't know. Theory: the name
of the maid who was too lazy to do her work of passing around whatever the
diners needed, thus requiring the invention of the platter to do her work?