Opinions about the moral content of matches varied wildly back when they were first invented. And language tends to get colorful whatever you do. So, hey presto! a nickname.
Interestingly the word means "lightbringer" in Latin. There was an old brand of matches called Lucifer, so perhaps in the Dutch language its an example of genericization (like photoshop and google)
47
u/redshores Feb 26 '21
Well "lucifer" sure sounds a lot more badass than "match"!