Watch what you order

Duck sauce has no duck, Welsh rabbit has no rabbit: Misnamed meals 101

Image: Umesh Soni

If "puppy chows" are not dog snacks, "duck sauce" contains no duck whatsoever, and "German Chocolate Cake" is reportedly Texan… who is handing out these misleading dish names? Decidedly, some of the terms on this list might make you check with the waiter before you place your order. Let’s explore the stories behind unexpected food labels!

Image: Van Thanh

This might be good news: No ducks are harmed in the making of this popular takeout condiment! Duck sauce is a sweet-and-sour orange jelly often served with Chinese-American dishes.

It’s made from apricots, plums, or peaches, combined with sugar and vinegar. The name likely came about because it was invented as a match for crispy duck dishes in Chinese restaurants.

Image: Taria Camerino

English muffins look nothing like American muffins, do they? And, technically, they do not come from England either.

These breads were popularized in the US by Samuel Bath Thomas, a British immigrant who began selling his "toaster crumpets" in New York in the late 1800s. It was the American consumers who branded them as "English muffins."

Image: Logan Clark

Did you know that German Chocolate Cake was actually popularized in… Texas? It did not come from Germany. The name refers to Samuel German, an American baker who created the delicious dark baking chocolate for Baker’s Chocolate Company.

In the 50s, a Texas homemaker later used his chocolate in a layered coconut-pecan cake recipe, and newspapers spread it with that name.

Image: Jay Gajjar

There’s no duck in duck sauce, and there’s no rabbit in Welsh rabbits, or Welsh rarebit! It’s actually melted cheese sauce served on toasted bread. Sometimes it comes flavored with ale, mustard, or spices.

The term "Welsh rabbit" was a tongue-in-cheek jab, likely implying that cheese was the "poor man’s meat" in Wales.

Image: Alex Gorey

Definitely not oysters! There’s nothing oceanic about this dish. Rocky Mountain oysters are actually bull or sheep testicles, usually battered, deep-fried, and served as bar fare or at ranch festivals in the American West.

Image: Piotr Musioł

Don’t expect poultry when you order this South Asian specialty! Bombay duck is actually a type of dried fish, locally known as "bombil," long eaten along India’s western coast.

Why the name, then? Some theorize that it derived from the mail system that transported this food, the ‘Bombay Dak’ (which translates to Bombay Mail).

Image: Charles Chen

You may or may not know this, but some Midwestern states enjoy a homemade candy called "puppy chow." Contrary to what the name might imply, it is not meant for dogs!

They are usually made of cereal, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. The same snack goes by other cute names, like "monkey munch" or "muddy buddies."

Image: Jolien Coryn

No bread and not "sweet." This dish has a grossly misleading name. Sweetbreads are the thymus or pancreas glands of young animals, prized in French cuisine for their delicate, tender texture.

The "sweet" refers to their mild flavor compared to other organ meats, while "bread" may stem from an old English word for "flesh."

Image: Sebastian Coman Photography

It turns out, "Scotch egg" is not Scottish at all. Some place the origins in London, while others point to Indian dishes like kofta as possible inspirations.

The dish is a hard or soft-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, breaded, and fried.

Image: Alexandra Tran

We all know what French toast means, but, just like French fries, the origins are disputed! This classic breakfast recipe is far more ancient and pan-European than the name implies.

Versions of egg-soaked bread fried in fat go back to ancient Rome, and have popped up across Europe for centuries under names like pain perdu in France or arme ritter in Germany.

Image: Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦

Hearing "mincemeat," most people imagine ground beef. But this pie filling doesn’t always involve minced beef, as it once did.

Traditional mincemeat once did contain actual minced beef or mutton mixed with dried fruits, spices, and suet. Over time, many chose to drop the meat content, but the name stayed.

Some names stick around

From Table Tap Joe to Ziggy Stardust: Who are the best song characters?

Sometimes, a character is the perfect alter-ego to write a song about oneself without self-referencing so much. Other times, a character is just a character. Over the years, musicians have come up with lonely dreamers, fearless heroes, mysterious strangers, and even supernatural villains who have become just as famous as the songs themselves. Some were inspired by real people, others sprang entirely from imagination, but all of them left a lasting mark on music history. Which of these 12 do you remember?

Tom Waits has always had a soft spot for society's oddballs, and few are even stranger than Table Top Joe. Introduced on the 2002 album Alice, Joe is born with only a head and hands, yet grows into a brilliant piano player whose extraordinary talent earns him fame despite the odds stacked against him.

The song unfolds like a forgotten American folk tale, complete with references to Coney Island's legendary Dreamland amusement park and composer Igor Stravinsky. Although many listeners assume the story is based on an old carnival legend, Table Top Joe is entirely Tom Waits' own creation.

Few fictional musicians have ever become as famous as Ziggy Stardust. Introduced in 1972, Ziggy is an alien rock star sent to Earth shortly before humanity's end, only to be consumed by the very fame that makes him a savior to millions.

David Bowie blurred the line between fiction and reality by performing as Ziggy onstage for more than a year. When he unexpectedly announced Ziggy's retirement during a concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1973, many fans believed the character, and perhaps Bowie himself, had truly reached the end of the story.

Tommy Walker isn't just the hero of a song, he's the central figure of one of rock music's first great operas. After witnessing a traumatic event as a child, Tommy becomes deaf, mute, and blind, yet somehow develops astonishing pinball skills that transform him into an unlikely celebrity.

Pete Townshend built an entire musical world around Tommy, exploring themes of trauma, faith, and redemption. First released in 1969, Tommy later became a hit film, a Broadway production, and one of the most influential concept albums ever recorded.

Johnny B. Goode is every aspiring musician's dream. Growing up in rural Louisiana with little more than a guitar and natural talent, he plays so brilliantly that listeners predict "his name will be in lights."

Chuck Berry based the character partly on himself and partly on pianist Johnnie Johnson. Originally described as a "colored boy," Johnny became a "country boy" in the final lyrics, making the song more likely to receive airplay during the segregation era. Nearly two decades later, Johnny's anthem would even travel into space aboard NASA's Voyager Golden Record.

Few fictional characters have captured loneliness as powerfully as Eleanor Rigby. She quietly moves through life unnoticed, while Father McKenzie delivers sermons that no one hears, creating one of popular music's saddest portraits of isolation.

Paul McCartney later explained that Eleanor's name came from actress Eleanor Bron and the Liverpool shop Rigby & Evens. The discovery of an actual Eleanor Rigby gravestone in Liverpool only deepened the song's mystique, though McCartney maintained the coincidence was unintentional.

Billie Jean may be one of pop music's most famous women, yet Michael Jackson insisted she wasn't a real person. Instead, she represented several women who falsely claimed that he had fathered their children during the height of the Jackson 5's fame.

Released in 1983 as part of Thriller, the song became a global phenomenon. It also provided the stage for Jackson's legendary moonwalk during Motown 25.

Unlike many legendary song characters, Stagger Lee actually existed. His real name was Lee Shelton, a St. Louis criminal who murdered Billy Lyons during an argument over a hat on Christmas Eve in 1895.

The shocking crime quickly entered American folklore through countless folk songs before Lloyd Price transformed it into a chart-topping hit in 1958. More than a century later, Stagger Lee remains one of the most enduring antiheroes in American music.

Tom Dooley was inspired by Thomas Dula, a Confederate veteran executed in North Carolina in 1868 after being convicted of murdering Laura Foster. His surname was locally pronounced "Dooley," giving the ballad its familiar title.

The Kingston Trio revived the old Appalachian folk song in 1958, turning it into an international hit and helping launch America's folk music revival.

When the narrator of "Lola" meets an intriguing stranger in a Soho nightclub, expectations quickly give way to surprise. Ray Davies crafted one of rock's earliest mainstream stories exploring gender ambiguity, decades before the topic entered popular conversation.

The recording rarely reached British radio. Because BBC rules prohibited commercial product names, Davies had to interrupt a U.S. tour and fly back to London simply to replace the lyric "Coca-Cola" with the now-famous "cherry cola."

Unlike most famous song characters, the Piano Man is really Billy Joel himself. Before becoming a superstar, Joel spent six months in 1972 and 1973 performing under the pseudonym Bill Martin at the Executive Room, a piano bar in Los Angeles, after becoming trapped in a bad recording contract. The song transforms those experiences into a bittersweet portrait of ordinary people searching for escape at the end of another week.

Joel has said that virtually every character in the song was based on a real person, from bartender John to "Paul, the real estate novelist" and Davy, who really was in the Navy. Yet the Piano Man himself became the story's most enduring character: a quiet observer who offers music as a brief refuge for dreamers, lonely souls, and regulars alike. More than fifty years after its 1973 release, "Piano Man" remains Billy Joel's signature song, and its title has effectively become his lifelong nickname.

Standing nearly seven feet tall and missing an arm, Amos Moses roams the Louisiana swamps hunting alligators. Jerry Reed filled the song with colorful Southern expressions and exaggerated storytelling that make Amos feel like an authentic folk legend.

Although fictional, Amos embodies the larger-than-life heroes found throughout American tall tales. His adventures turned the song into one of Reed's biggest crossover hits and secured Amos a permanent place among country music's greatest characters.

Big Bad John hardly says a word, but he doesn't have to. The towering coal miner earns everyone's respect through quiet strength before sacrificing his own life to save fellow workers when a mine collapses.

Jimmy Dean's 1961 ballad became a smash hit, winning a Grammy and inspiring several sequel songs. More than sixty years later, Big Bad John still stands as one of country music's defining working-class heroes.