Why is a coaster called a coaster (as in a drink coaster)?

Here is the etymology of the word coaster. 1570s, “one who sails along coasts,” from coast in verbal sense. Applied to vessels for such sailing from 1680s. Tabletop drink stand (c.1887), originally “round tray for a decanter,” so called from a resemblance to a sled, or because it “coasted” around the perimeter of the table to each guest in turn after dinner (cf. coast in verbal sense “to go around the sides or border” of something). Source

Fascinating, isn’t it? I don’t know how many countries use this term for this specific use.That would be interesting to know as well.

sweet. i love etymology :)
it’s one of the many quotidian words i never learned in French and I just looked it up. In French it translates to… “underneath the glass.” Surprisingly practical for a romance language, haha :-p

But… there’s the underneath aspect…

Same with an iron, “i’m going to do some ironing now darling”
Is she off to a firey furness for a spot of smelting then?

On the use of ironing, I’m going to posit that since the very first irons were literally made from cast iron and heated in the open hearth, that the name stuck to describe the activity as well as the object used.

I vividly remember seeing this in action and it left a lasting impression. Several years ago PBS did a series of reality-show type programs putting various groups of people into different historical time periods and had them live life as it was lived then.

In the one called “Victorian House” the woman had to do all the laundry without any of the modern additions which we take for granted.

Ironing was extremely labor intensive and time consuming as she had to constantly rotate between several irons so that one was heating up while another was being used. And boy were they heavy. They were cast iron. Imagine trying to smooth out clothing. (mostly cotton) with those things? No paying huge sums for a gym membership, just doing the regular ironing gives them a great workout. And permanent press fabrics had yet to be invented; yikes :)

Theres a lot that we tend to take for granted in this day and age of modern conveniences.

@ucme Does your wife really say “I’m going to iron now, darling?” If so, you have one heck of a wife, @ucme. Not too many women talk like this I don’t think.

We could just as easily ponder why the word “why” has one sound but two useless tagalong letters.

English is an absolutely horrid language in some respects… in others it is quite nice.

@Aster She might, maybe not in so many words but I chose “poetic licence” because I could.

Ha, thanks guys.

Well it kind of does coast as they weren’t motorized after the initial ascend to the apex of the ride. They would coast down the track and due to the length of the trollies, the rear of it would help push it all up the next upgrade as it was using gravity to push it down thus forcing the front end up hill. I suppose there were rides that had more than one puller if it was long enough to need help to keep it going. It all is based on momentum.

Ummm… wrong coaster lol!

oops