Heinz 57

English

Etymology

From the “57 Varieties [of Pickles]” slogan used by the H. J. Heinz Company.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhaɪnz ˌfɪf.ti ˌsɛv.ən/

Adjective

Heinz 57 (not comparable) (US)

  1. (of a thing) Being a complete mix; containing parts of many different origins.
    Synonyms: hodgepodge; see also Thesaurus:hodgepodge
    • 1994, Bruce Palmer, How to Restore Your Harley-Davidson‎, →ISBN, page 13:
      Is the stock 1939 Harley-Davidson you are looking at 100% 1939 or is it 50% 1939 and 50% Heinz 57, or does it only have a motor with 1939 crankcases sitting in a 1972 chassis?
    • 2003, Jeffery Zeldman, Designing with Web Standards‎, →ISBN, page 78:
      Then, too, designers and developers who’ve taken the time to learn the Heinz 57 varieties of proprietary scripting and authoring might see little reason to learn anything new…
    • 2006, Richard S. Kitchen, Mathematics Education at Highly Effective Schools that Serve the Poor‎, →ISBN, page 84:
      [quoting a teacher at a middle school] So the 7th grade math one [curriculum], is like Heinz 57, it's from everywhere and anywhere
  2. (informal, of a person or animal, chiefly a dog) Having ancestry of many different origins; to be of mixed race or breed.
    Synonyms: mixed race, mongrel, mutt
    Antonyms: purebred, pedigree
    • 1995, Erika Bourguignon, “Identity and the Constant Self”, in The Psychoanalytic Study of Society‎, volume 19, page 183:
      “ […] My mother is a bit more on the Heinz 57 side. She's got a strong Germanic background, a little bit of British, and my maternal grandmother is French-Canadian.”
    • 1997, Richard Rhodes, Farm: A Year in the Life of an American Farmer‎, →ISBN, page 282:
      There just wasn’t any place on the farm for four more Heinz 57 dogs running around.
    • 1997, Richard Dyer, White‎, →ISBN, page 9:
      As one woman (Cathy Thomas) vividly and wittily put it, ‘To be a Heinz 57 American, a white, class-confused American, land of the Kleenex type American, is so formless in and of itself’

Noun

Heinz 57 (countable and uncountable, plural Heinz 57s)

  1. (countable, slang) A dog of miscellaneous ancestry; a mutt.
    Synonym: pavement special
    • Even Birds Are Chained To The Sky and Other Tales (The Fine Line Editorial Consultancy) (page 265)
      “We have five dogs,” I hear her say, “All Heinz 57s, rescued.”
  2. (uncountable, poker) A variety of draw poker in which 5s and 7s are wild cards.

Further reading
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