Date:  Mon, 7 Apr 1997 00:43:42 -0600
From:  Greg Pulliam <gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CHARLIE.IIT.EDU>
Subject: tipping

There was a syndicated story from the Houston Chronicle in Sunday's Chicago
Tribune or Sun-Times (I can find out for sure if anyone really needs to
know) in which the writer noted that the term "tip" as in "tipping a
waiter" came from an English inn several hundred years ago, where the
innkeeper put out a box for money labelled "To Insure Promptness"--"T.I.P."
The reporter simply gave this as the accepted etymology of the term, but it
sounds mighty fishy to me. I don't have easy access to a decent
etymological dictionary for a couple of days, so if anyone knows anything
about this, I'd appreciate a short note on it.
Thanks.

Gregory J. Pulliam
Illinois Institute of Technology
Lewis Department of Humanities
Chicago, IL  60616
gpulliam[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]charlie.cns.iit.edu