Oreoreoreoreo
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Christian Horn writes:
Oreo cookies are famous and widely known.
I never attached the name "Oreo" to single piecesof the cookie, but once you start this is possible:
The Mastodon comments hint that this is from Youtube user @ohiofinalboss .
Etymology
The origin of the name "Oreo" is obscure, but there are many hypotheses, including derivations from the French word or, meaning "gold" (the original tin was gold-colored); the Greek word όρος (oros), meaning "mountain" (the cookie was originally conceived to be dome-shaped); or the Greek word ωραίο (oreo) meaning "nice" or "attractive". Others believe that the cookie was named Oreo simply because the name was short and easy to pronounce. Another theory, proposed by the food writer Stella Parks, is that the name derives from the Greek Oreodaphne, a genus of the laurel family, originating from the Greek words 'oreo' (ωραίο) meaning 'beautiful' and 'daphne' (δάφνη) referring to the laurel. She observes that the original design of the Oreo includes a laurel wreath, and the names of several of Nabisco's cookies at the time of the original Oreo had botanical derivations, including Avena, Lotus, and Helicon (from Heliconia).
Just for the record, I dislike Oreos, have probably only eaten one or two of them in my life.
Selected readings
- "Fake Ritz and phony Oreo" (5/27/18)
- "Winnie meets Oreo" (6/29/18)
- "Like Oreos, but braver" (12/20/09)
Martin Schwartz said,
January 7, 2026 @ 11:51 pm
Oreodaphne in fact has its 1st cmpd member not from Mod. Greek
oréo, but from Anc. Greek óros, oblique stem oeo-,
mountiain. In Mod. Greek whatv is pronounced as /oréos/ m.,
/oréa/ fem. and /oréo/ n. are from Anc. Gr. hōraíos 'attractive' etc.
< "timely, seasonal' from hôra 'season, hour', from which the plant name would be *horeodaphne. Interestingly, Mod. Greek aGHóri
'boy' (GH = gamma, voiced fricative) is ultimately from *áōros
'unseasoned, not being aged (*houred)'. Btw some species of
Oreodaphne have diverse medicinal usages; other sopeciaes are
psychotropic. As for the cookie, OREO has 2 discs, with RE =
main, i.e. creamy, substance in between. Joking.
Martin Schwartz
Philip Taylor said,
January 8, 2026 @ 5:09 am
Why is he staring at 20 brown elastic hair ties arranged on a vertical white mandrel ?
Jerry Packard said,
January 8, 2026 @ 10:25 am
@Philip
Most excellent.
I, who also do not like Oreos, always felt the name was an iconic representation of the cookie itself – that the two Os surrounded the -re- in the middle.
Also relevant is the description of ‘Uncle Toms’ as Oreos by other black folk because they are ‘black on the outside but white on the inside.’
Francois Lang said,
January 8, 2026 @ 10:49 am
Olivier Horiot is a distinguished producer of Champagne
https://contextwines.com/collections/olivier-horiot
Several years ago, I placed a special order for some of his wines with a leading Manhattan retailer. When my order arrived, the store called to tell me that I could pick up my Oreos.
Philip Taylor said,
January 8, 2026 @ 11:50 am
You mean they stressed the first syllable rather than the last, François ?
Nat J said,
January 8, 2026 @ 4:35 pm
Is there maybe something interesting to be said about Japanese phonology here in the way the the youtuber bellows "oreoRE"? It sounds sort of distinctively Japanese to me. But I know next to nothing about Japanese and don't trust my intuition here. Is it nothing more than the fact that it's a native (I assume) speaker bellowing in a language? Maybe if a native speaker was bellowing in French I would have that parallel thought: "Wow, that's really quite French"? I suspect there's a little more to it than that, but maybe not.
François Lang said,
January 8, 2026 @ 5:03 pm
@Philip Taylor: Yes, they pronounced it just like "Oreo", with the stressed first syllable!
Chris Button said,
January 8, 2026 @ 5:17 pm
@ Nat J
"Ore" means "I" (1st person) in Japanese
@ Jerry Packard
I love the idea that the two "O"s sandwich the "re" in the middle!
Jonathan Smith said,
January 8, 2026 @ 6:04 pm
o-re-o as an icon for the cookie is the whole joke here — which is well done I must admit
AntC said,
January 8, 2026 @ 10:24 pm
I think I've encountered Oreos less than Victor. So this gives me an opportunity to ask after its advertising campaign:
(Up until searching just now, I thought this nonsense was limited to NZ/Aus, but it seems to be international.) Who is this supposed to appeal to, and why?
Chris Button said,
January 9, 2026 @ 7:25 am
@ AntC
As someone who briefly worked in advertising/branding, I decry the use of pointless humor without anything brand specific. Unfortunately that approach is all too common.
However, the Oreo "twist" campaign is really ownable and creates an iconic association. And the humor in the above commercial supports that association.
Philip Taylor said,
January 9, 2026 @ 5:05 pm
Or maybe they weren't brown elastic hair bands at all — maybe he is staring at the bottom half of one of these — https://www.petsathome.com/product/pets-at-home-teddy-tall-scratch-cat-post-brown-large/7150481P
tudza said,
January 10, 2026 @ 4:12 am
Gold covered Oreo?
https://tudza.org/Gold_Leaf_Oreo.jpg
The gold covered peanut butter patties look better.
Kaleberg said,
January 10, 2026 @ 10:42 pm
I thought "oreo" was what Tarzan yelled when he was swinging from tree to tree in the jungle.