99 Ice cream cornet

[almond]

Why is a soft ice cream cornet with a flake called a 99?

[Jacob]

Oi once asked for a 99 and the person serving said "with or without a flake?" Baffled old Jacob, that did.

[alldaysmith]

I thought that originally they cost 99p, but then mr Whippy, in his wisdome, decided to make them in different sizes, but you couldn't then have a 94 or 1.08 could you, so they were all called 99s, just small, medium and large. What about 99 co op tea bags. 99 perferations i thought, but then my mom told me i was a dim wit, and from then on, i never had another thought of my own. mmmmmmmmmmm

[OnlyMe]

Einstein's right, it's nothing to do with their price. I remember buying them in the sixties when they cost about fourpence in old money.

[xyzzy@bok]

Though there are stories about it's millimetre flake etc i think it was just a trendy cool number. no more. could just as easy been a 77 or a 69? :-)

[jellybaby22]

No xyzzy. Not a 69. The taste and texture is totally different.

[nik]

i heard it was because the chocolate flake is 99mm long...

[Lornyloo]

The 99 was invented by Cadbury's to increase chocolate sales. According to Cadbury the name came from Italy: "In the days of the monarchy in Italy the King has a specially chosen guard consisting of 99 men, and subsequently anything really special or first class was known as 99 � and that is how the 99 Flake came by its name.