Origins... (Kit Kats)

There are many mysteries in life. Why are you ten times more likely to trip over a wet floor sign than slip in a puddle? Who kidnapped the England cricket team between the first and second test and replaced them with a bunch of inept lookalikes? Why does the British public pay vast sums of money every summer to go to theme parks, only to spend most of the day sweating in queues, moaning about the weather and wondering why everything is taking so long before finally, with an air of triumph, strapping themselves into a rollercoaster and whizzing around for 30 seconds with their arms above their heads and their eyes shut?*

One such mystery that popped into my head a few weeks ago was an extremely profound one that puzzled me for all of two minutes before I looked up the answer on the interwebs. The extremely profound mystery was this: why, oh why, is the Kit Kat called the Kit Kat. It’s a pretty silly name when you think about it. Why Kit Kat and not Dig Dog or Pug Pig? So, to astound you with knowledge, and to save you 10 seconds of Googling (other search engines are available), here’s an almost interesting explanation:

It appears that the name was inspired by a 17th century pastry chef called Christopher Catling, who ran a pie shop in London. Apparently Mr Catling’s pie shop was frequented by a group of influential writers and politicians who took to calling their gathering the Kit Cat Club. It seems this gathering included men who worked for Rowntrees and the company adopted the name in the 1930s as a tribute to the man behind the club.

So, there you go. I hope you feel enlightened.

That’s about it for now but stay tuned for more exciting revelations in future editions of ‘Origins...’!**

*(I’m pretty sure the answers to these questions are (a) because wet floor signs are designed by pixies for magical hydrophobic creatures less than three feet tall; (b) aliens; and (c) because we’re stupid.

‘But wait’, I hear you cry, ‘a little more exposition please!’ Well, okay then: (a) is fairly self-explanatory I believe, except to say ‘God bless statistics’; (b) likewise, except for the question of motive, which is always a bit of a mystery when it comes to aliens - in my experience it tends to involve highly complicated schemes for world domination, so there must be a connection I’m missing somewhere, maybe to do with Jacob Zuma and the price of the Rand; and (c) well, I know I’m making a sweeping generalisation here, but we are a bit aren’t we?

**(Possibly. If (a) I’m feeling inspired and (b) I’ve run out of more interesting things to say.)