Now We Re Cooking With Gas
Ie Questions: “Cooking With Gas Now”
Alisa Barba I don’t usually care much about the etymology of phrases or words; my apologies to the word-obsessed out there. The other day, as I drove through a rural area where country music was my only option, I was listening to A Way With Words. It gave me a wonderful explanation on how the term “cooking using gas” came about.
“Now we’re cooking with gas” originated in the late 1930’s or early 40s as a slogan thought up by the natural gas industry to convince people to use gas, rather than electricity, on their new-fangled stoves. This was the time when wood-fueled stoves were being replaced with electric ones, and gas and natural gas stoves were competing for customers’ attention. To instill in the minds of people the notion that gas is the best method to cook hot food, the gas industry sought to do so.
The modern understanding of the phrase is, “functioning very effectively” or “achieving something substantial,” or, after a time of trial and error, “we’re finally rolling.” But how did an advertising slogan enter the public lexicon and become a phrase meaning much more than just “cooking with gas?” A clever industry-sponsored advertising campaign.
According to both to the A Way With Words co-host Martha Barnette, and at least partially confirmed by this website focused on English language and usage, the phrase was likely coined by a man named Deke Houlgate who worked for the American Gas Association in the 1930s. Bob Hope used the phrase in radio comedy routines, and he shared it with him. Also, the phrase pops up in Jack Benny routines during the 40s.
Daffy Duck: (in the oven) Say, you’re now using gas.
What did you know about effective product positioning before television?
Gas Companies
American Gas Association’s monthly volume 23 (1941) provides an origin:
“NOW YOU’RE COOKING with Gas” is back on the Roper Ranger and in Nashville (Tenn.) Gas and Heating Company advertising. It cleverly links gas cooking to local food products and restaurants.
The gas industry was literally taken by surprise when “Now, you’re cooking using gas” appeared around December 1939. When it flashed forth with brilliant repartee via the radio programs on Maxwell Coffee Hour (Jack Benny), Chase and Sanborn and Johnson Wax, Bob Hope and many others. Gasmen began to listen like they’d never heard before. They were curious to know more and not sure if it was good or bad.
Hollywood used the expression “Now that you are cooking with gas” for perfection.
We have to ensure that our actions are planned so people can say “Now you’re cooking with gas!” Gas age – Volume 88 (1941) says the phrase is already famous:
The clever use of the famous colloquial to create a copy angle is a smart one. “Now, you are cooking with gas.”
Bob Hope and Deke Hope
Deke Houlgate was the founder of Houlgate College Football Rankings. The son of Deke Houlgate wrote this on the website
Before he was inducted into the Army Air Corps, his time with American Gas Association saw him coin the expression, “Now you’re cooking gas!” Bob Hope and his writers helped to plant it. This was written into Bob Hope’s radio script, which they then put into Jerry Calonna’s mouth, making it nationally famous.
Farce of this sort very seldom comes off with complete effect, but this time it does, and we promise that there’s fun on the Road To Zanzibar. They’re using gas this time, Mr. Hope says in one of his pungent sentences.
and a 1942 newspaper article (“The Pittsburgh Press Oct 15, 1942”) refers:
Bob Hope’s wisecrack “Now you can cook with gas “…
Learn More
A post to Jack Benny.org This is just one example of this line.
It was enough to confuse “word specialists”, notes *. The term “Coney Island” entered the University of Chicago’s dictionary as a verb. But terms like “now, you’re using gas to cook” and “that’s not the way that I heard it” were still used to confuse the word experts by those who visited Coney Island.
It was used in a 1942 film, The Big Street Florida Doctor: Did you ever hear of a thing called paranoia? Well, no. You see, people can believe in themselves and become something they aren’t.
Very Nicely Johnson: It’s now that you can cook with gas.
Violette Shumberg: Shut up, Nicely.
The last line of 1943 Daffy Duck cartoon The Wise Queacking Duck Daffy Duck is: “In the oven” Say that you are now cooking with gas.
Wikipedia says the same cartoon just before it ends:
Some parts of the cartoon show the war continuing, such as a fortune teller (referring specifically to Jerry Colonna).
Edit this Answer Jan 19 at 19:53
The Phrase Became American Slang Before The Start Of World War Ii.
Hope, a wisecracking comedian and actor, quickly made the phrase a catchphrase. He used it on both television and in films. Others adopted the phrase, adding it to scripts for popular radio shows like the “Maxwell House Coffee Time” and “The Jack Benny Program.” Before the start of World War II, the phrase was already American slang, thanks to the radio programs, movies and even a Daffy Duck cartoon where it was spoken to indicate positive progress or achievement.
Deke Hulgate was a pioneer in his field. The art of product positioning was something he had been perfecting for decades, long before its widespread use in movie and television productions.
The gas industry encouraged women to opt for gas ovens, and it was a natural progression.
This Marketing Campaign, titled “Now You’re Cooking with Gas”, Never Fails
It used to appear in newspapers and cartoons, but now it is on Instagram.
American Gas Association. For years we have talked about the problems and hazards of natural gas cooking. However, it’s almost impossible for us to keep people from using gas stoves. It does not matter how much I tell stories such as Piles of Peer Review Research on Gas Stoves’ Effects on Your Health. Another study confirms that gas stoves can cause serious health problems for children. Although professional chefs continue to use gas induction ranges, it is not enough for me or my spouse to abandon natural gas.
Maybe it’s all the marketing. The American Gas Association used to blanket magazines and newspapers decades back, extolling gas-cooking. Rebecca Leber from Mother Jones says that Instagram is now spending a lot of money on influencers.
Another trade association, American Public Gas Association intends to spend $300,000 more on 2020’s millennial-centric campaign ” Natural Gas Genius”.
It isn’t a new concept. Gas companies have been marketing since its discovery. The name itself is marketing BS. People used town gas (made from gas) to heat their homes. However, pipelines were only able to bring more natural gas to towns across North America and Europe after the Second World War. Even in those days, American Gas Association was working hard. Jim Loboy, Nugget Knowledge, says the key influencers were active at the time, pushing “now, you can cook gas”. Deke Houlgate was an executive who worked at American Gas Association in 1930s. He came up the idea for the phrase. Bob Hope knew Deke Houlgate and he planted the phrase. Hope used it in his radio comedy sketches. Jack Benny (a comedian of great stature) also started using the gas in his comedy routines on the radio in the 40s. In 1942, we see it again in a movie and in a cartoon about Daffy Duck in 1943. Daffy Duck trapped in an oven, says “Say! Now you’re cooking gas.” People are trying to rename it still; the Trump administration and the Department of Energy are describing it as “molecules of U.S. freedom.” Brian Kahn of Gizmodo quotes a press release issued by Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes:
Increasing export capacity from the Freeport LNG project is critical to spreading freedom gas throughout the world by giving America’s allies a diverse and affordable source of clean energy.
Instagrammers might not be following the most effective practices in cooking with gas. Foodiemeetsworld has a very large, industrial-style exhaust system that covers her massive gas range. She should however use the back burners to get the most out of it. Cookwithamber doesn’t seem to have much of a hood at all, just one of those pop-up extractors at the rear of the stove that do almost nothing, having to draw fumes and steam down when they want to go up. But even that is better than what most people have or use; as I noted in a recent post, “Hoods are not appropriately sized or installed and fewer than 35% of California residents bother to even turn them on, mainly due to excessive noise. Many also have filters that are hard to remove and clean.” They are also difficult to clean and remove.
Even though young people have been taught from an early age, it’s difficult to tell them that using natural gas to cook with isn’t good for them. My head is still ringing with the AM radio jingle about “natural gas,” which I believe to be the best modern fuel. I haven’t been able to convince any of the people I work and live with about this. That includes my coworker (name not) who recently installed a new gas range into her new kitchen. She read my TreeHugger complaint for eight years.
IKEA Tillreda portable induction hob. IKEA Maybe the best way to teach induction cooking to my wife is to begin small. IKEA TILLREDA is an affordable, standalone induction stovetop that she has found to be very amusing. Perhaps this will do the trick, because if we want healthy homes, we have to ditch the gas stoves, and if we want a healthy planet, we have to electrify everything . All of us have to start somewhere.
You can now cook with Gas
Google Castbox and other apps
Many of us cannot travel without reading material. And one fast food joint hears you: Chipotle is now printing the work of famous writers on their paper cups. One way to poke fun at someone for not being up to par with fast food is to say that they are two meals short on a Happy Meal. The recorder-shaped little flute is played by every first grader. But have you ever thought why? Plus, a word quiz for the summertime, South Carolina lingo, flout vs. flaunt, silent B’s, a rare word for worry in the wee hours, and a big congrats to the Class of 2K14! This episode aired for the first time on June 20, 2014.
Once you’ve played in the mud, it’s over. South Carolina is the place to do this.
You can’t understand something if it isn’t made of moss and sand. Northern England is the most common use of this phrase.
They don’t have a full deck of cards, so if someone has two peaches or less of a Happy Meal (or more commonly two happy fries), they won’t be able to eat it. Such good-natured teases may even be called fulldeckisms.
Class of 2014 is completely hooked to the future. That’s why they wrote Class of 2K14 via Snapchat.
Germans are known for their unique term for a pout. Schippchen, which is the expression you use to make a smile by sticking your bottom lip out, derives its name from the word “little shovel”. In South Carolina, when someone offers you something for broadus or for broadus, just say “Yes!” This means that a sales clerk will give a customer an additional item. This type of gift, often called “gift added for good measure”, is what we talked about in an earlier episode.
You can find topics here
All Topics: Politics, Energy Equity Culture All Topics We’re now cooking with natural gas options. Tuesday August 11, 2018, and the utility companies have already invested $100,000,000 in natural gas alternative.
, aiming to bring some of them to consumers as soon as 2030. The Low-Carbon Resources Initiative’s 18 members include gas utilities, like Southern California Gas Co., electricity providers, like Duke Energy Corp., and public utilities, like the Tennessee Valley Authority. These areas include hydrogen, biofuels, synthetic fuels, as well as ammonia.
Natural gas is the main fossil fuel burned in buildings for heating, hot water, and cooking. Many experts feel that retrofitting buildings with electricity appliances is the best way decarbonize buildings. But utilities have begun to promote low-carbon alternatives. Why? It’d be an easy change. The low-carbon fuels can theoretically be carried through existing natural gas pipelines. The initiative could help companies achieve targets to either reduce 80 percent or eliminate all their emissions completely by 2050.
Although utility companies have previously invested in electrification projects, this collaborative effort is the first attempt to make low-carbon replacements for natural gases. Neva Espinoza (Director at Electric Power Research Institute, and executive sponsor for the initiative), said that she didn’t know about any other effort on this scale.
What does “Now You’re Cooking With Gas” really mean?
March 1, 2020
What is the difference between cooking with gas and fire?
Around 1915 gas cookers were replacing wood-burners. The phrase was first used by Hollywood comedians in December 1939. Gas companies then adopted the phrase to encourage gas cooking starting around 1941.
What does The Term Now That You’re Cooking Really Mean?
Filters. (idiomatic) An expression that is often used in reply to indicate that the subject has changed to a better or more efficient method.
What is the Saying about Cooking with?
Also, what’s new (with you); what’s up; what gives. As in, What’s happening at work these days? What’s going on in your household? Why is everyone honking their horns at each other?
.Now We Re Cooking With Gas
