ketchup

Rolig, I think catsup is a very common spelling; I'm not sure either is really preferred except by individuals. My understanding (which comes almost exclusively from Kurlansky's book, below, p. 189-191 acc. to Amazon) is that the word was originally something like "ke-tsiap" (going off vague memory here), and that pronunciation probably was more like catsup than ketchup.

The "original" ke-tsiap (or however it was spelled, this being well before standardization) was a salt-preserved condiment sauce made from fermented inedible fish parts (e.g. heads, guts) and sounded to me a lot more similar to Worcestershire sauce than to what we know today as ketchup. But anyway... what we call catsup or ketchup can be made from a wide variety of foodstuffs--I've seen banana ketchup quite frequently, actually--but the most common seems to be the tomato.

I don't know anyone who pronounces it cat-sup, though.

As a child I learned the spelling "catsup" for this condiment, I think from the writing on our catsup bottle. Of course, I felt a certain awe for this word that could be spelled one way and pronounced entirely differently.

THANK you. :-)

*makes restitution*

*beats chest in penance*

C_b, you carelessly left "little tomatoey globules" unbracketed. Shame.

p.s. this word has a pretty awesome etymology. And I highly recommend the couple of chapters in Mark Kurlansky's Salt for more history than you ever dreamed ketchup had in its little tomatoey globules.

What? WeirdNet says it's a sauce...

*snort*

A type of fruit-butter, much like applesauce. According to discussion on criss-cross applesauce.