Steele 1
Hannah Steele
Dr. Latta
Eng. 410
30 November 2007
Spuds! Potatoes and Change in the English Language
or
“You Say ‘Po-tay-toh,’ I say “Po-tah-toh’”
Languages are dynamic and fluid constructions. Their evolution cannot be stoppedunless they die out- at most merely slowed. English is no exception. The vocabulary that
surrounds “potato” (the term as used here represents all the tubers of its family, including what is
now known as the sweet potato) in English aptly demonstrates some of the ways by which
language can change. Even though potatoes did not originally grow in an English-speaking
country, the English language has continually
developed around their terminology, and these
developments demonstrate several linguistic ideas or
concepts. By studying the evolution and adoption of
potato-related terms in English, linguists can clearly see
the active nature of language change through a variety
of influences, the relation of the terminology to
standardization, and a demonstration of the Principle of
Linguistic Relativity, which claims that speakers’ world
view is shaped by their language (Foley 193).
According to leading linguist Barbara Fennell,
Figure 1: Mr. Potato Head
Potatoes have permeated culture so
much that they have inspired classic
children’s toys – an example of how
language (the term “Mr. Potato Head”)
shapes thought (potatoes are fun).
Citation: “About Mr. Potato Head”
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language change can be caused by either external or internal factors. External factors include
geography, contact, new vs. old phenomena, imperfect learning, a substratum effect, and social
prestige factors (Fennell 7). Geography factors include living in a remote area or moving to new
ones. Contact factors involve invasion, colonization, shared borders, trade relations, and
diplomacy. New vs. old phenomena includes any new events (such as changing technology) that
require new terms to be invented. Imperfect learning changes language when spellings,
pronunciations, and definitions are passed on or learned incorrectly. Substratum factors involve
the language differences between social classes. Social prestige factors privilege one word or
pronunciation over another (Latta). Internal factors include ease of articulation, analogy,
reanalysis, and randomness (Fennel 7). Ease of articulation factors admit that some sounds are
more difficult to produce than others and cause the pronunciation to change so that the word is
easier to say. Analogy factors are regularizing factors. Reanalysis factors change words or
phrases when they are interpreted differently than their original pronunciation (Latta). The
randomness factors allow for some words to spontaneously appear in language (Fennell 7). The
incorporation and adaptation of the word(s) for and about potatoes demonstrate both external and
internal factors, although not every type of subfactor. Contact, old vs. new phenomena, as well
as possible imperfect learning, can be seen in the English language surrounding potatoes. In
addition, ease of articulation and randomness (or spontaneity) are noticeable.
Although potatoes are not indigenous to (originally) English-speaking countries, they
were slowly introduced through exploration, colonization and immigration -- contact factors.
Originally from South America, potatoes were first discovered by Europeans when Spanish
conquistadors conquered the native peoples, in particular the Incas. The Incas referred to
potatoes generally as “papas,” but they also had multiple words for different types of potatoes
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that they raised. Some of these terms translate to names that mean “weep blood for the Inca,”
“knife breaker,” “human head,” and “red mother.” Additionally, once potatoes were freeze-dried
(in a primitive manner) to be stored or moved, they were referred to as chuno (Guenthner 4).
The introduction of potatoes to Europe is not specifically recorded, and the existing
information points to multiple possibilities. Pedro de Cieza de Leon wrote about potatoes he had
seen in Peru in 1538, but the first officially noted potato sale/purchase in Spain was not until
1573. One theory is that Cieza took potatoes back to Europe after his South American
explorations (Gilbert 11). Another theory claims that other European explorers, such as Sir
Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh, introduced potatoes to Europe either from South America
or North America (the Virginia colonies) (Guenthner 5). Yet another source, perhaps the most
specific, claims that potatoes went from South America to Spain to Italy to France (where it was
originally called a truffle) and then to England (Fink 228). Regardless of how they arrived,
potatoes eventually reached Europe by the late 1500s, and over 150 years, potatoes spread
throughout the European continent nearly every country (Guenthner 6). Again, the movement of
potatoes and their language was a result of contact factors.
Once in England, potatoes became a novelty. Although most recently known as food for
the common people, potatoes were originally rare in Europe because they had to be imported,
and therefore they were a food of the upper class (Stuart 378-9). Even Shakespeare mentions
them in his play The Merry Wives of Windsor, written before 1616, when he says “let the skie
raine Potatoes” (“potato” Def. 1a. OED). However, the English (British) language had not yet
been standardized when potato words were adopted into the vocabulary or lexicon (Fennell 156).
As a result, words for potatoes were spelled several different ways. Hence, the word for potato
was also spelled “potatus,” “potades,” “partaton,” “partatoes,” and “patatas” (“potato” Def. 1a,
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1b. OED). In 1681, a man named C. Jeaffreson, cited as a reference in the OED, wrote a letter in
which he spelled the word “puttatoes” (“potato” Def. 1b. OED). Potatoes were also occasionally
referred to in English by a Spanish term, “batatas,” since Spain found potatoes before the rest of
Europe (“potato” Def. 1a. OED); batatas referred to the type of potato now called the sweet
potato (“batata” Def. 1. OED). In a short period of time, the word for potato transformed from
the Incan “papa” to the Spanish “batata” to the English “potato.” This may be an example of
how imperfect learning, first by the Spanish and later by the English, changed the term. In
addition, although the Incas had valued potatoes enough to have multiple words for them,
European languages did not make this accommodation when acquiring potatoes, so only one of
the words was incorporated. The limited acquisition of terms may also be considered a type of
imperfect learning, since it was not complete.
Again, histories relate different tales about how potatoes arrived in Ireland (much of
Ireland speaks English rather than Gaelic). One theory claims that potatoes were probably
planted after being found on grounded and shipwrecked Spanish ships that had been destroyed
when the Spanish Armada was beaten in 1588 (Guenthner 7). However, an alternative theory
claims that Sir Walter Raleigh dropped off potatoes in Ireland in 1585-6 while returning from the
Virginia colonies (Gilbert 15). Potato production in Ireland boomed and became the main food
source for the nation. They were so important to the national diet that farmers were not known
as bread winners but as potato winners, giving rise to a phrase that was particularly suited to its
speakers (Fitzpatrick 596). Then potatoes (as a food source, for some forms of potatoes were
indigenous to North America) began to spread to America (Guenthner 4). Although some
believe that potatoes were surely introduced to the New World by European, specifically
Spanish, explorers, their use in North America is not recorded until much later (Gilbert 14). In
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1719, some of the first Irish immigrants arrived in North America at Londonderry, New
Hampshire (a British colony), and they brought potatoes with them. In addition, President
Thomas Jefferson developed a taste for potatoes while in France, and he brought some back to
America to grow. He also ate them for dinner while he was President (Guenthner 10). In 1785,
Jefferson mentioned in writing that he grew “both the long and the round” kind of potatoes
(“potato” Def. 1a. OED). Even though the first wave of Irish immigration and a presidential
endorsement introduced potatoes to North America, potatoes had not yet reached their current
popularity in English-speaking countries.
Potatoes became more important in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
approximately the same time that potato farming was on the rise in Ireland (Stuart 379), and
already the words surrounding potatoes were beginning to change. The OED cites references to
potatoes as “spuds” in both England and Scotland in the mid-1800s. In Scotland, baked potatoes
were known as potatoes with their “jackets” (skins) still on them (“spud” Def. 5a. OED). In
addition, fries, also known as “chips,” became a commonly consumed food in England during
this time period (Walton 243-4) and a vital nutrient source for England’s working class (Salaman
456). These types of change can be categorized under “randomness factors” in language
change.
However, potatoes did not only change spellings and pronunciations and synonyms.
Potatoes also changed parts of speech. As their agricultural value was realized, potatoes became
not only a noun, but also a verb –- by 1805, fields could be “potatoed” (“potato” v Def. 1a.
OED). The word was also transformed into a participle to make phrases like “potatoeing time”
(“potato” v derivative OED).
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In 1845, blight (a fungal plant disease) struck the potato field in Ireland, and starvation
forced up to 100,000 Irish to immigrate annually to the United States until approximately 30% of
cities like Boston and New York were composed of Irish immigrants. All of these immigrants
had subsisted off of potatoes in Ireland, eating as much as 12 pounds of potatoes daily (Oxford
52), and they brought this element of their Old World culture with them in the United States.
Thus, yet another contact factor introduces a potato-reliant people to America and American
English.
Once potatoes reached America, they became a widely spreading crop. Beginning in
New England with immigrants, potatoes soon spread across the country. When the West opened
to Americans, pioneers took potatoes wherever they traveled. Their movement is part of
geographical factors in language change. In addition, the displaced Native Americans were
pushed by missionaries like Henry Spaulding in the 1830s to grow potatoes as a way to fit in to
the new, white culture (Guenthner 10). This is yet another example of contact (through
domination). The spread of potatoes to various regions of the United States would lead to
several regional terms for potatoes as language adapted to them.
Since the 1800s, potatoes and their uses have continued to grow and evolve throughout
the world, and language has adapted to accommodate the changes. However, although the
spelling of “potatoes” has been officially standardized, many spellings and pronunciations still
appeared in American English. Some of these differences may be due to factors such as
imperfect learning and ease of articulation.
Some of the biggest variations in spelling and pronunciation occur as one travels from the
east coast to the west. In other words, the Midwest has more variations than the East Coast.
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There are only two commonly noted variations in New England (even today noted for the most
standard version of English), and they are “batado” and “batayda” (“potato” Def. A1. DARE).
The Midwest, on the other hand, changes the word more significantly. An article entitled
“Middlewestern Farm English” published in 1937 claims, “They commonly make use of such
mispronunciations as. . . batadoes. The potato is also called the tater or the spud. . . . Potatoes
with the outer skin partly rubbed off are said to be feathered” (Prescott 107). According to the
Dictionary of American Regional English, in 1843, an Indiana text contained the term “smashed
petaturs” rather than mashed potatoes. In southwestern Illinois, an 1846 text claimed, “George
made sweet pertater hills today.” The Ozarks is also noted for pronouncing and spelling the
word potatoes as “pertaters” from 1916 to the present. In Kentucky, the Dictionary of American
Regional English records the word pronounced as “potater.” Interestingly enough, there is also a
difference noticed between halves of the same state. The example given is eastern versus
western Iowa: “‘have you tried Edith’s po-tay-toes au gratin?’ you may hear at an eastern Iowa
church potluck, while western Iowans help themselves to more ‘po-tay-tuh’ salad, or more often
just grab a handful of ‘tater sheps’” (“potato” Def. A1., A2. DARE). It would seem that the
Midwestern spellings and pronunciations have more in common with the earliest, nonstandardized versions of English than with the contemporary New England pronunciations.
Potatoes began to take on other meanings, as well. In British English, having a potato in a
sock or stocking meant that there was a hole in the fabric, particularly is the hole was at the heel
of the sock (“potato” Def. 4e. OED). In Australian English slang, a potato referred to a girl or
woman, but this definition is rare now (“potato” Def. 4g. OED). These changes may be the
result of factors like new vs. old phenomena and randomness.
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Of course, American English adapted the meaning of the word potato also, both by region
and by time. In the South and southern Midwest, the phrase “hold your potatoes/taters” is used
instead of “hold your horses” or “be patient.” In Louisiana, the two phrases are combined into
“Hold your horses and fry your potatoes.” In Mississippi, the phrase becomes “hold your potato
till it gets cool” (“potato” Def. B3. DARE).
Potato also comes to represent other oblong shapes. In Massachusetts, it was used in the
place of the term “goose egg” for a knot or bump on the head (“potato” Def. B4. DARE). Rather
than having a goose egg, one would have a potato on his or her head.
Slang words and phrases also lent new meaning to the word potato. In some cases, to be
“the potato” was to be the genuine article (“potato” Def. 4c. OED). In other uses, “potatoes”
(specifically used in the plural form) was used synonymously with US dollars (“potato” Def. 4f.
OED). Another slang phrase to denote something of diminutive value is “small potatoes” or
(rarely) “few in the hill” (“potato” Def. 4a. OED).
“Potato” also took on different connotations over time. After the 1600s, the potato was
nearly always a food of the poor masses (as shown by the Irish), and so the potato lent its name
to “potato shows.” These events were usually the showing of a movie during the Depression at
which the admission was an item of food that was later donated to the impoverished (“potato
show” Def. 1. DARE).
In Idaho in the 1930s, the potato was so important that it had a popular candy bar, the
“Idaho Spud,” named after it. In addition, Idaho held a Potato Day celebration that is compared
to Louisiana’s Mardi Gras (Jensen 122).
In the 1950s, students were given a “potato vacation” from school. The students and the
instructor took one or two weeks of vacation in the fall to harvest potatoes with their families.
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This term is a relative of the “cotton vacation” in the south or the “stone picking vacation”
(“potato vacation” Def. 1. DARE).
Beginning in the 1960s, potato began to refer to white people in a derogatory manner. In
1968 in California, black people began calling white people “potato heads” (“potato head” Def.
1. DARE). The reasoning behind this term is unknown, which many demonstrate a random or
spontaneous language change.
Potatoes had such a large impact on society that its name is occasionally used to represent
an entire meal. In 1982, “potato time” was recorded as an alternative term for dinner time or a
noon meal. However, one man in southern Idaho reports that the phrase seemed to be used by
Utah residents exclusively as a term for a hot meal eaten at the dinner table at noon, not an
outdoor picnic or snack (“potato time” Def. 1. DARE).
Potatoes were such a common item that they became toys. The entertainment market
spawned new terminology around potatoes. In 1952, Hasbro Company created Mr. Potato Head,
a toy that was originally sold with only the arms and legs and face – Hasbro intended for the
consumer to provide a real potato for the body. This toy was so popular that the term “Mr.
Potato Head” is known throughout the United States as a classic children’s toy, although now the
toy comes with a plastic potato body (“About Mr. Potato Head”). In 1985, an American
newspaper advertised the potato gun, also known as the “spud gun” or “spudzooka” (Glowka
439-40). Other entertainment revolving around potatoes includes the children’s game Hot Potato
and the children’s rhyme “one potato, two potato.”
Science also took an innovative stab at the potato by developing a hybrid with it. In
1940, the New York Times advertised a new vegetable called the “topato.” This vegetable was a
cross between a potato and a tomato, and it was marketed to dieters as the perfect combination of
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starch and “the slimming effects of the tomato” (Meredith 303). Even though this potato (or half
potato!) term has not endured, its temporary coinage and use demonstrates new vs. old
phenomena language change.
The Principle of Linguistic Relativity is best described by Whorf, a scientist, and Sapir, a
linguist. Whorf explains that different expressions used in a particular language form the
speaker’s view of the world. In the same vein, Sapir states that “the ‘real world’ is to a large
extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group” (Foley 193). Essentially, the
combined concept is that language somehow shapes or alters how the speaker sees reality. This
principle can be applied to words for and about potatoes. When discovered, the potato was
known by several different names in a culture that relied heavily on it for subsistence. When
taken to European countries that were not reliant on the potato, its spelling and pronunciation
varied, but the term itself was singular, and therefore did not largely affect the people’s view of
the world. When the potato reached Ireland, the terminology began to evolve (hence terms like
“potato winner,” and such terminology began to emphasize the importance of potatoes in the
minds of the Irish people. Still later when the potato reached North America, specifically the
United States after 1776, the number of terms began to increase. From food to euphemistic
terms to children’s entertainment to science, the vocabulary for potatoes began to permeate all
aspects of American life. Perhaps, according to the Principle of Linguistic Relativity, the
vocabulary of the word itself caused the potato’s importance in America and its prominence in
the traditional “meat and potatoes” American meal and the “fish and chips” British meal.
Potatoes are an important part of the world’s dietary intake, but they can also have
academic value. Potatoes have a traceable path through languages that demonstrates several
influences that promote language change. The changes may be caused from internal or external
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factors, and they demonstrate how language evolves in time and place. The diversity of the
words, definitions, phrases, and ideas surrounding potatoes in English is vast. English either
intentionally or subconsciously did not keep the Spanish pronunciation “batata,” just as the
Spanish did not keep the pronunciation as “papa.” English temporarily used the term “batata”
but soon discarded it for its own terminology. From the original linguistic choice, the synonyms,
pronunciations, and spellings continued to diversify, to some degree even defying the principles
of regularization or standardization in British, Australian, and American English. The words and
phrases changed and spread as invading people conquered indigenous people, moved around the
world, or as people settled in distinct regions of the United States. In addition, the Principle of
Linguistic Relativity may be successfully applied to the idea and lexicon surrounding the potato
in English. Even though the potato may be commonly perceived as an object only of agricultural
or culinary interest, in fact the words for potato and their development are exemplary of multiple
linguistic ideas.
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Fink, Beatrice. “Saint-John de Crevecoeur’s Tale of a Tuber.” Eighteenth Century Life 25.1
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Latta, Susan. Lecture on Language Change. Indiana State University, Terre Haute. 24 August
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