Inside Energy News

IE Questions: Now We’re “Cooking With Gas”

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I don’t usually care much about the etymology of phrases or words;  my apologies to the word-obsessed out there.  But I happened to be listening to the public radio show A Way With Words on a long drive the other day (through a region where my only other option was country rock), and I heard a fascinating explanation of the origins of the phrase, “cooking with gas.” Because we are Inside Energy, and because natural gas is very much our topic area, I have to share:

“Now we’re cooking with gas” originated in the late 1930’s or early 40s as a slogan thought up by the natural gas industry to convince people to use gas, rather than electricity, on their new-fangled stoves.  This was the era where there was a widespread transition from wood-fueled stoves, and electric and natural gas stoves were in competition with each other. The gas industry wanted to imprint the idea in people’s minds that cooking with gas was the most effective way to get the hot food on the table.

Inside Energy News

IE Questions: A What Tank?

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We are hereby launching a new weekly Inside Energy series:

IE Questions! Yes, in these posts, we will be taking questions from our attractive and talented followers through email, social networking, carrier pigeon—whatever works. One of us will choose a question or two each week and doggedly track down the answer. Alas, we are early in this process, so for this installment I will be answering my own question. It’s one I didn’t even know I had until I was corrected.