Heinz 57

Etymology

From the "57 Varieties" slogan used by the H. J. Heinz Company

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

Heinz 57 (not comparable)

1. (of a thing) A complete mix; containing parts of many different origins.
   • 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. (of a person or animal, chiefly a dog, informal) Having ancestry of many different origins; to be of mixed race or breed
   • 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’