Did you know? French toast was named after Joseph French who first served it at a roadside tavern in Albany in 1724. (thanks Matt!)

UPDATE: Grant Barrett writes in with the following:

The Oxford English Dictionary has a citation for French toast under the
entry for “French,” some 64 years before Mr. French of Albany
supposedly coined the term in 1724. It appears to be the same food,
even if the recipe varies a bit (mainly by the absence of eggs).
Today’s French call it “pain perdu,” for the record.

From the OED, Second Edition:
“1660 R. MAY Accomplisht Cook VI. 162 French Toasts. Cut French Bread,
and toast it in pretty thick toasts on a clean gridiron, and serve them
steeped in claret, sack, or any wine, with sugar and juyce of orange.”

Such folk etymologies are common, but worth verifying.

Grant is webmaster at American Dialect Society and edits World New York. He hits one of my hot buttons by writing in his French Toast entry: “The instant I see a dubious etymology posted on a web site as fact, everything else on the page is immediately devalued. It’s a flag for lack of intellectual rigor.” I’d like to pass this one off as “lack of sleep resulting in lack of research” but I’ll take the blame square across the chin. This type of thing is exactly why I started this weblog. It’s too fast and easy to spread misinformation on the Internet. I should take the time to do the research, not take the easy way out.