Most kids know that there is this pink seasoned sausage which, between two slices of bread, becomes an integral part of a bologna sandwich ... or a baloney sandwich. But which sandwich is it?

The word "bologna" comes from the city in north central Italy where some similar sausages are made, only they are called mortadella by the people who make and eat them there. This (city and sandwich) is pronounced buh-LOH-nuh or buh-LOH-nyuh.

Who knows where the word baloney comes from? It is pronounced buh-LOH-nee and is used perhaps more by children than adults ... perhaps because children consume more of this particular sandwich than do adults.

When colloquialized, one suspects that the latter pronunciation is used almost exclusively, as in "That's a bunch of baloney" used to mean nonsense, foolishness, malarkey.

Baloney? Whence?