During the years surrounding 1800, Connecticut sea captains actively traded Wethersfield onions—used largely to feed Caribbean slaves—for much-sought-after nutmeg, a spice grown only on the West Indian island of Granada and in the Mollucas islands of Indonesia. Also during this time, young Connecticut men ventured in ever-increasing numbers to the American South and Midwest to peddle the clocks, buttons, needles, and other sundries being produced by a host of small, new Connecticut manufactories.
These Yankee peddlers loved having the hard-shelled nutmegs—durable, light, and profitable—among their goods. They were highly desired and always easy to sell. So easy that, so the story goes, some of the craftier—and less ethical—of these Connecticut lads took to mixing wooden nutmegs in with the real ones, simultaneously increasing both their profits and their “nutmeg” supply. They, of course, counted on the fact that the purchaser wouldn’t discover the difference until the trader himself was back in the Land of Steady Habits (or was that the Provision State?). As a result of these and similar trickster-like practices, Connecticut Yankees’ reputation for clever-but-not-fully-principled trading spread widely and quickly, and the homeland of these likeable but shrewd hucksters became known as “The Nutmeg State.”
Just as their forefathers had done when they adopted as their own the song “Yankee Doodle”—a tune originally intended to ridicule Yankees for being crude rustics—Connecticans took to “Nutmeg State” the way “snake oil” took to “salesman.” At an early and quite formal dinner gathering of the Connecticut Historical Society, one of the dignitaries—following a numerous and extended series of toasts preceding his own—offered this salute to the assembled guests, “To the Nutmeg State,” he said, lifting his glass yet again. “ Where shall we find a grater?”Yes, it's true. The nickname comes from bad businessmen. From deceit. And from people too daft to know that they were being mocked. Ah, New England. You've got to love it.
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2 comments:
Hm. I'm surprised the Hog River Journal published this story. Note, they did insert "as the story goes," which is a clever way of saying, "if only this cute tale were true."
Most historians say it's not. It would have taken more time and be more costly to make the effort of carving a fake nutmeg then to sell actual nutmeg.
More likely, those who were fooled by the legit nutmegs thought it was to be cracked open like a walnut so they thought they were fake. For whatever reason, the state held on to this story, though, even going so far as to make and sell fake wooden nutmegs at the 1875 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia as well as the 1892 World’s Fair.
And the nickname stuck as a result. Still a cool story, whichever one is more truthful.
-Steve_CTMQ
Yeah, I know the story has a fair amount of iffiness to its reliability. Reading around, it seems like there are quite a few potential "origin" stories out there. That being said, there could be a kernel of truth somewhere in there. Our ancestors were known to do some stupid things ...
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