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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001 time: 00:25
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Thank you Google:
quote: It was during the 1870 German French War when the French were defeated by a German-Russian military alliance. Paris had fallen to the enemy, and the enemy did not like to eat French bread. So some Germans found a bakery and instructed the owner how to bake the heavy dark German-type bread. When they went to collect their newly baked bread, the French baker said scornfully: "Here! I baked your bread. But tell me? how can you eat that stuff? It's only good for my horse Nicole to eat." That phrase 'good for Nicole' in French is: 'bon pour Nicole' and the Teutonic pronunciation of the word gave us the word 'pumpernickel.' |
http://www.ladyflame-thepenismighti...ordOrigins.html
The 'bour pon Nicole' origin is also backed by another webpage. |
And it's totally a myth. 
Pumpernickel has been around as a word well before the Franco-Prussian war. The above myth has also been attributed to Napoleon, who while crossing through Europe stopped in a German town. Then his cook brought him the local bread, he sneered at it and fed it to his horse, Nicole, saying "pain pour Nicole" (bread for Nicole). And that's not true, either.
The real origin is that it is a combination of two German words, "pumpern" and "nickel." "Pumpern" is a colloquialism for "to fart," while "nickel" is a sort of malicious spirit, goblin, devil, etc. Since the bread was so coarse, it often led to being possessed by a "fart goblin." Or a pumpernickel.
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpumpernickel.html
And that's the straight dope!
Last edited by Boris Godunov on 09-02-2003 at 19:27
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