Fog as Pea Soup

The part of Idaho where I live is properly classified as a high desert as well as a broad valley. Given its topography, this area is not normally prone to fog. Further insulating it from fog is the over 500 foot deep canyon through which the Snake River flows. So the multiple days of fog over the last couple of weeks are unusual. Not that I am whining. After all, I grew up with fog.

Growing up I often heard oldsters describe fog as “pea soup.” Usually this surfaced in conversation as “sure looks like a real pea souper out there.” All of my life I have described fog in this way. (Sometimes, when I feel somewhat irreverent, fog becomes a “sea pouper.”) Lately I have begun wondering where this term originated, and when.

According to Dictionary.com unabridged (which is based on the 2009 Random House Dictionary) provides some illumination. Their second definition lists pea soup as an informal noun meaning “a dense, yellow fog.” Overall, pea soup is identified as originating during 1705 - 1715.

At the same time the term pea souper is defined as a parallel term meaning the same thing as pea soup (“a thick yellow fog”) that arose during the late 1880s.

So those of us who like to link a foggy day with a delicious, nutritious soup can thank the British for developing this meaning in the first place.