Cup of joe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Cup of joe" is an American nickname for coffee. The phrase goes back to the mid-1840s, and is of unclear origin, though it is possibly short for "Old Black Joe," the title of a popular Stephen Foster song. In any case, it predates Josephus Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy who banned the serving of alcohol on ships in 1914.
There is another possibility. The American taste for coffee developed in the 19th century after tea was no longer available from British merchants. The word may have come into the American English language via a misunderstanding of the French word "chaud", which means hot, and is pronounced similarly.
[edit] Sources
- "Joe" at Dictionary.com
- "Cup of Joe" at US Navy Terminology page
