Perhaps you are interested in the etymology of different words and now you are interested in Oven. Or maybe you’ve bumped into the popular meme about an oven that you badly want to know what exactly it means. So, why do they call it an oven? Explaining the question is a bit tricky.
But in short, this word is being used for not more than 200 years, the first time people used an oven as a cooking ware was in the 1900s. And for memes, it is usually used as a pun, which is a joke that makes a play on words that sound similar but hate different meanings. For more explanation, stay with this article.
Why Do They Call It Oven
There are a few reasons an oven is named an ‘oven’. A glimpse of those are given below.
Etymology
We all know that an oven is a closed compartment used for cooking and baking. However, the word “oven” has a different meaning. The term “oven” refers to a very hot environment. Because the compartments of the cooker used to bake or cook are extremely hot, they have been given the name oven.
During WWII, the term “oven” was popular, and by the end of the war, it had become a household word. Because of the extreme heat, a cremation or gas chamber in a Nazi concentration camp was dubbed an oven during WWII.
Various species that build arched or roofed oven-shaped nests were named oven-birds in 1825. To have something in the oven means “to be pregnant” in slang, and it dates back to 1962. Pyrex advertisements from 1916 show “dishes that can be used for cooking in an Oven.”
Meme
Why do they call it oven refers to a nonsensical copypasta where the full sentence was, “why do they call it oven when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food”. “Of in” has a similar sound to “oven.” In the context of the joke, the word “of in” has two meanings while sounding similar to the word “oven.”
There’s a clever triple meaning at work when you say you’re “of in”: “of in” can refer to three things:
1. the act of placing food in the apparatus;
2. the presence of heat emitted by the apparatus;
3. a play on the word “oven.” After that, the joke asserts that “of out” is the antonym of “of in.”
If “of in” means putting the food in, “of out” means taking it out; if “of in” means the food has heat, “of out” means the food has no heat. Here’s an example of a sentence that incorporates all of the “of in” and “of out” definitions: When food is cold, the heat from the oven is “of out” (absent from) the food.
Therefore, you “of in” (insert) the cold food into the oven, then “of out” (remove) the food once the heat from the oven is “of in” (present within) the food. The punchline of the joke is based on the origin of the apparatus’s name, the oven.
The punchline’s premise is that the word “oven” has to come from “of in.” If it is claimed that an oven is named after the act of inserting cold food into the apparatus (of in), the joke claims that this is illogical because the heat from the apparatus is not present in the food (of out).
If, on the other hand, the oven is named after the presence of heat from the apparatus within the hot food (of in), it contradicts the fact that hot food is removed from the apparatus (of out).
The punchline’s hilarity stems from the flawed logic used to deduce the origin of the word “oven.” The logic is flawed in such a way that anyone trying to figure out the etymology of “oven” will get stuck in a never-ending cycle of speculation and never find the answer they seek.
How Did the Oven Get Its Name?
According to one theory, the word “oven” comes from the Latin word “ovis,” which means “sheep.” This is thought to be since early ovens were said to be made of sheepskin. The year 1297 was the first time the word was recorded.
According to another theory, the word “oven” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “ofen,” which means “stove.”
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How was the oven invented?
A Bavarian architect first invented the first recorded enclosed oven which was called the Castrol stove or stew stove. It contained the smoke inside the oven, which had not been done or seen before, that’s how the basic oven was invented.
2. What does the name oven mean?
Oven refers to cookware that helps in cooking or heating food. It is also a topographic or occupational name for someone who worked or lived near an oven or furnace.
Ending Statement
Now you know why they call it oven, in real and in the meme, you will pretty much understand any other memes related to it, or impress your teacher by telling about all the history related to this word. Just don’t mess up all the information while expressing and you are all good.
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