History
An unlikely theory is that it arose from a health spa fad, which began in the second half of the 19th century and continued up until World War I. This movement was popularized by Sylvester Graham, best remembered for the Graham Cracker, and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, of cereal fame. People traveled to the shore to enjoy the "beneficial airs" of the salt water, "bene-" becoming "benny" in the process.
Read more about this topic: Benny (slang)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)