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GORPING GORP

8/1/2019

1 Comment

 
Gorp is a common word in North American camping and hiking slang describing a combination of nuts, dried fruits, and sometimes candy. Basically, trail mix. Most people assert that it's an acronym for good old raisins and peanuts (two common ingredients of the mixture). Some others claim granola, oats, raisin, and peanuts is the origin, or something else along those lines. However, etymologists aren't even sure it's an acronym at all. For one, there is evidence of gorp being a verb meaning "eat quickly" as far back as the 1910s, way before the food was popularized. Acronym explanations for etymologies are also frequently erroneous, so not much stock should be put into the common interpretation. Despite that murky origin, though, usage of gorp is on the rise these days, probably due to the increased interest in hiking in recent years. 
1 Comment
Joan MacNeill
4/21/2021 03:18:49 pm


There seems to be a connection with an earlier definition of GORP as to eat greedily or quickly, and the word GULP. The letters R and L are often interchanged, for various reasons.. If that was done with GORP, the result is GOLP. This is very similar to GULP, which according to my old New World dictionary, is derived from Middle English GULPEN, GOLPEN. Perhaps a stretch, but then very much so is "good old raisins and peanuts." Especially since everyone I know has always said "peanuts and raisins."

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    AUTHOR

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    Hello! I'm Adam Aleksic. I have a linguistics degree from Harvard University, where I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society and wrote my thesis on Serbo-Croatian language policy. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy traveling, trivia, philosophy, board games, conlanging, and art history. 

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