4 ms·
The etymology is legit and comes from ice cream, for which vanilla is considered the default or “plain” flavoring. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_vanilla
by elgenie 3y ago
The etymology is legit and comes from ice cream, for which vanilla is considered the default or “plain” flavoring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_vanilla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_vanilla
Vanilla historically being fancy but then becoming an attainable and cheap additive is probably somewhat responsible for it becoming the default ice cream flavor, and thus flipping the idiomatic meaning.
- WorldMaker 3y agoThough note it was primarily the invention of artificial vanilla substitutes that made vanilla seem cheap/attainable. (Real Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar, for instance, is still far more expensive than most people realize.) There may even be a larger useful metaphor there, too, that "plain" vanilla is most often "fake vanilla".
- schwartzworld 3y agoLots of dessert / ice cream recipes use vanilla as an ingredient regardless of what the final flavor is meant to be. This also leads to the vanilla === plain misconception, imo.