1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Bogelbaum. Here. If your home has 3 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: a corner cabinet, odds are it has a lazy Susan 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,440 Speaker 1: tucked away inside. Perhaps there's a lazy susan a top 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,240 Speaker 1: the center of your dining room table, or you've spun 6 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:22,799 Speaker 1: one around to reach a tasty dish well seated at 7 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: a round restaurant table. Whatever its use or location, the 8 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: lazy susan arguably has the most enigmatic moniker of all 9 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: household appliances. We don't call a napkin holder holder helen, 10 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: or a mixing bowl mix and max, or at least 11 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: we haven't until now. So how did the lazy susan 12 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,599 Speaker 1: get its name? First, let's take a closer look at 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 1: how a lazy susan works. A lazy susan refers to 14 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: a round disk that rotates on a set of bearings 15 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: located underneath. This spinning platform can be made of any 16 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: number of materials, ranging from wood or plastic to gloss 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: or marble. Commercially crafted sizes come in even number diameters, 18 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: with the most common sizes ranging from twelve to forty 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: eight inches, which is about thirty centimes. Even a small 20 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,119 Speaker 1: lazy susan often is used to store condiments in silverware 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: on a tabletop, putting them with an easy reach of diners. However, 22 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: in some restaurants and homes, a large lazy susan of 23 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: at least twenty two inches or fifty six centimeters is 24 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: placed in the middle of the table to hold dishes 25 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: of food that can then be rotated to each person. 26 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: It may be a derivative of the European dumb waiter, 27 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: which was a piece of furniture situated near the hostess 28 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: at a dinner table. The dumb waiter had three or 29 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 1: four round trays that decreased in size from the bottom 30 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: to the top. The trays were used to store desserts, cheeses, 31 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: silver and extra plates, anything the hostess might need to 32 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: quickly access. While the exact origins of the lazy susan 33 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: are lost to history, there is a plausible theory about 34 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: a name. Susan was a generic term popularized in the 35 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds by employers referencing their female made servants, and 36 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: at the time it was fairly common for people who 37 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: employed servants to complain that they were lazy According to 38 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: Marcus Kreevsky, a professor of media history at the University 39 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: of Basel, Switzerland, the term lazy Susan was probably common 40 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: at the time. Later, in the two decades leading up 41 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,959 Speaker 1: to World War One, technological advances became substitutes for human power. 42 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: With the advent of the ring or washing machine and 43 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: similar inventions, it became prohibitively expensive for some households to 44 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: continue to hire servants, as rotating wooden trays cropped up 45 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: in kitchens and on dining room tables, replacing the need 46 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: for servants to dish food. The term lazy Susan likely 47 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: became a mashup of a reference to both the lazy 48 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: employee and the substitution of technology for human power. There 49 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: are other theories as well. Although most experts agree that 50 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: this ubiquitous household aid probably didn't have a single inventor 51 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: or a solitary namesake, some believe that Thomas Jefferson may 52 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: have invented the lazy Susan in the eighteenth century, referencing 53 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: a daughter in the naming. As the story goes, his 54 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: daughter Susan wasn't a fan of being served last at 55 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: the dinner table, and thus became his inspiration. The only 56 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: problem with the story is that Thomas Jefferson doesn't seem 57 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: to have had a daughter named Susan. Others point to 58 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: Thomas Edison as the inventor, believing that the turntable he 59 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: created first phonograph evolved into the Lazy Susan. Despite the 60 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: murky origins of its name, the Lazy Susan was forever 61 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: cast into the American lexicon in nineteen seventeen when an 62 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: advertisement appeared in Vanity Fair touting a rotating round tray 63 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: called a Lazy Susan. Turns out the name may have 64 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: been invented by an anonymous copywriter tasked with increasing sales 65 00:03:53,880 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: during the holidays. Today's episode was written by Laurie L. 66 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: Dove and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this 67 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: and lots of other rotating topics, visit how Stuff works 68 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: dot com. Brainstuff is a production of iHeart Radio or 69 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: more podcasts my Heart Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, 70 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.