Welsh rarebit fish called bummalo)". The entry in Merriam-Webster's "Dictionary of English Usage" is "Welsh rabbit, Welsh rarebit" and states: "When Francis Grose defined Welsh rabbit in "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" in 1785, he mistakenly indicated that rabbit was a corruption of "rarebit". It is not certain that this erroneous idea originated with Grose..." In his 1926 edition of the "Dictionary of Modern English Usage", the grammarian H. W. Fowler states a forthright view: "Welsh Rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong." The notion that toasted cheese was a favourite dish irresistible to the Welsh
Dream of the Rarebit Fiend as they had been widely reported and talked about in the New York newspaper world McCay was a part of. "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend" was McCay's longest running comic strip. He made over 300 more "Rarebit Fiend" episodes than he made of the more famous "Little Nemo". The first strip appeared on September 10, 1904, in the "New York Herald", a few months after the first appearance of McCay's "Little Sammy Sneeze". It was McCay's second successful newspaper strip, after "Sammy Sneeze" landed him a position on the cartooning staff of the "Herald". "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend" ran