ice cream

[dreams]

why is a ice cream called a 99

[NazNomad]

The origins of the name are uncertain. One claim is that the '99' was coined in Portobello, Scotland, in 1922, by the Arcari family, who owned a well known ice cream shop there. They sold ice-creams with half a large 'Flake' inserted in the top, and reputedly gave it the name simply because the shop was sited at 99 High Street. The idea spread locally, then further afield.[1]

Another possibility is that it was named by Italian ice-cream sellers (many of whom hailed from mountainous areas in the Veneto, Trentino, Bellunese and Friuli) in honour of the final wave of conscripts from the First World War, born in 1899 and referred to as "i Ragazzi del 99" - the Boys of '99. They were held in such high esteem that some streets in Italy were named in honour of them. The chocolate flake may have reminded them of the Alpine Regiment's hat, with a long dark feather cocked at an angle.

The Cadbury's website says that the reason behind the Flake being called a 99 has been "lost in the mists of time". Although it also repeats an article from an old Cadbury works paper, which states the name came from the guard of the Italian king which consisted of 99 men and "subsequently anything really special or first class was known as 99."[4]

There is a false origin of the name, claimed by the Fecci company, an Italian ice-cream outlet in Tenby, Wales, its falsity revealed by a programme on the BBC designed to originate words for the OED, called Balderdash and Piffle, introduced by Victoria Coren.