Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

It doesn't quite rival baseball as a national sport or pastime, but Frisbee-tossing certainly has its devotees. Since the mid 1950's, when inventor Fred Morrison marketed his first flying disc in California, Frisbees have been whizzing from hand to hand by the millions.

Though the plastic disc itself was invented and marketed California, the story of the Frisbee's name has 19th century east coast origins.

In the 1870's, a confectioner named William Frisbee baked and distributed pies from his Bridgeport CT bakeshop. The pies were sold in tin pans embossed with the confectioner's family name. Both the pies and their tins were popular in New England for decades. Long after the pies had been consumed, locals used the tins as hand-tossed flying devices.

Fast forward to the West Coast of the mid 20th century. Young California inventor Fred Morrison was hoping to capitalize on the UFO craze of the 1950's. He invented a plastic disc patterned after the spacecraft depicted in alien invader movies. Morrison called his new toy "Morrison's Flyin'Saucer". It quickly became a local favorite.

When the president of Wham-O, Morrison's manufacturing company, was on a promotional tour of the East Coast, he discovered Yale students flinging William Frisbee's pie tins across the campus lawn. They had already been "Frisbee-ing" for years!

Wham-O then replaced the moniker "Flyin' Saucer" with the name of the 19th C. Connecticut pie baker. The term Frisbee is an example of what is known as an eponym -- a word taken from a proper name.

Radio Script > Frisbee