Entry · Sunday, July 19, 2026
Plate LVII. Banana split dessert with whipped cream and a cherry.
Photo by Molly Keesling on Unsplash
Banana Split
/buh-NA-nuh SPLIT/ n.- 1. A dessert construction of one banana, halved lengthwise and flanking three scoops of ice cream, finished with whipped cream, sauces, and a cherry; esp. one photographed side-on, where the midsection is doing the heavy lifting and the cherry is simply a formality.
- 2. colloq. Dessert that went wide before it went tall and has no regrets about the decision. The banana is load-bearing in name only. The three scoops are the whole argument.
"The Dairy Queen on Route 9 served a banana split so thiccc it arrived in a boat dish the size of a cafeteria tray. The cherry was placed on top the way you put a hat on a parade float."
From banana (from Portuguese banana, likely from Wolof or Mandinka banaana, a West African term carried into European trade languages by the 16th century) + split (Old English splittan, via Middle Dutch, meaning to cleave lengthwise). The dessert itself was first claimed by Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1904, where a 23-year-old pharmacist's apprentice allegedly invented it for twenty-three cents. The banana was technically in charge. It has not been in charge since.
Filed by
David Evans Strickler built it in 1904 at twenty-three and charged ten cents, which means he absolutely knew the assignment.
Ruling ADMITTED
The filer said 'knew the assignment.' The entry says he charged ten cents. That is a price, not an assignment. Admitted.
In the margin
At the Pemberton Children's Hospital gala I chaired in the nineties, the dessert table had something very like this. The cherry was also load-bearing, structurally speaking.
Also received REJECTED
Submitted: a dry fettuccine noodle. A banana split is basically longitudinal, and so is a fettuccine noodle, so the precedent is right there.
Is it, Spider? Is it really?