If your home has a corner cabinet , odds are it has a Lazy Susan tucked off indoors . Perhaps there is one atop the center of your dining room table , or you ’ve spun one around to get hold of a tasty dish while seated at a orotund restaurant table . Butwhat is a Lazy Susan , and why does it have such a disparaging name ?
Wherever you happen to receive one , the Lazy Susan has arguably the most enigmatic moniker of all householdappliances . We do n’t call a diaper holder " Holder Helen " or a mixing arena " Slow Sam . " So how did the Lazy Susan get its name ?
In this clause , we ’ll give some long - overdue deference to the Lazy Susan and what it lend to our organizational and dining experiences . Plus , we ’ll do our best to respond the mystical origins of that rather uncongenial name " Lazy Susan " .
How a Lazy Susan Works
First , get ’s take a airless look at how the rotating tray works . Lazy Susans are round discs that turn out on a set of posture located underneath . This spinning platform can be made with any identification number of material , rate from Sir Henry Joseph Wood and plastic to ice or marble . Commercially crafted sizes come in even number diameters , with the most uncouth sizes ranging from 12 to 48 inches ( 30 to 122 centimeters ) .
A little Lazy Susan is often used to stash away condiment and silverware , set them within easy grasp of dining car . They are also helpful at keepingkitchen clutterorganized . However , in some restaurant and homes , a large Lazy Susan of at least 22 inches ( 56 centimeters ) is placed in the middle of a table to hold dishes of food that can then be go around to each person .
Why Is a Tray called Lazy Susan?
While the accurate bloodline of the phrase " Lazy Susan " are drop off to history , there is a plausible theory about its name . " Susan " was a generic term popularized in the 18th century by employers referencing their female maidservants .
" Laziness was a common charge against servants ( at the clock time ) , so ' Lazy Susan ' must have been a usual term since the 18th 100 , " said Markus Krajewski , a professor of medium history at University of Basel , Switzerland , and author of " The Server : A metier story from the Present to the Baroque , " in an Architectural Digestarticle .
In the two decades leading up toWorld War I , technological advances became stand-in for human great power with the advent of the toller washing machine and similar invention . It became prohibitively expensive for some households to continue to employ handmaiden .
As rotating wooden trays crop up in kitchens and on dining room mesa , replacing the want for household handmaid , the terminal figure " Lazy Susan " in all probability became a mashup of a credit to both a lazy employee and the substitution of engineering for human king , grant toKrajewski .
Other Theories Behind the Name of Rotating Trays
There areother theoriesas well , although most experts harmonise that this omnipresent household assistance probably did not have a undivided discoverer or a sole namesake . Some conceive that Thomas Jefferson invented the Lazy Susan in the eighteenth century , referencing his daughter in the appointment . As the tale go , his daughter Susan was n’t a fan of being served last at the dinner party tabular array and thus became his inspiration .
The trouble with this chronicle is that Thomas Jefferson does n’t seem to have had a girl named Susan . Otherspoint toThomas Edison as the inventor , believing that the turntable he created for his record player develop into the Lazy Susan .
Is the Term “Lazy Susan” Sexist or Racist?
In late year , many have questioned whether the phrase has any sexist or racist undertones , move over its historical enjoyment . Even the lineament onCurb Your Enthusiasmhad acomedic shouting matchover whether the terminus was unfitting or not .
The usage of " faineant " in the name might suggest a equipment that serve the map of a handmaiden without need the endeavor of a human host , thus being a " lazy " root . This interpretationcouldbe construed as having a mildly derogatory or sexist tinge , depending on one ’s linear perspective .
Meanwhile , there ’s no direct connection between the term " Lazy Susan " and any specific racial or ethnic group . The gimmick itself is believed to have origins in different cultures , let in early 20th one C America or even in the beginning in Chinese eatery , but its name does n’t excogitate any particular racial or ethnic reference .
In contemporary times , the term is widely used without spirit to offend , and most mass cite to it simply as a household item .
This article was updated in conjunction with AI applied science , then fact - checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor .
