Origin of Phrases - K
Kool-Aid
Edwin Perkins, president of an early 1900's company called Onor-Maid, was marketing a product called called Fruit Smack, a fruit-flavored soft drink syrup. Fruit Smack was a popular alternative for those who couldn't afford a new drink called Coca Cola. But since the syrup was sold in bottles, the price was relatively expensive. Perkins noticed how successful the new gelatin product, Jell-O, was becoming, and decided to convert his syrup into a powdered form and sell it that way. He then renamed the product Kool-Aid, modeled loosely after the company's name.