Spot the Frippet: Eton Mess.

 An Eton Mess is not an alumnus of the famous British school - and particularly not one who has somehow failed to imbibe even the most basic rudiments of honesty, generosity, truthfulness, and kindness - but is instead a kind of pudding.

Traditionally it is made of strawberries mixed with broken pieces of meringue and whipped cream:

Any other kind of Eton Mess is really best ignored, or, at least, avoided.

Though that, sadly, is sometimes hardly possible.

Spot the Frippet: Eton Mess. Eton Mess as a compound noun first appeared in print in 1893. It is traditionally served at Eton School on the day of the annual cricket match against Harrow School, and the recipe may have originated there. 

It can and has been made with ice cream, bananas, and any other soft fruit, but strawberries and cream are usual. 

The name Eton comes from the Old English ēa-tūn, which means River-Town. Eton is situated on the River Thames.

Mess might describe the appearance of the pudding, or it might be the word that describes a quantity of food (as in a mess of pottage). In both cases the word comes from the Old French mes, a dish, from the Latin missus, a course of a meal, from mittere, to set out.