The stomach lining of a farm animal used as food, or informal slang for something considered worthless or ridiculous.
From French 'tripe,' possibly from Old Norse or Arabic origins. As food, it referred to the prepared stomach of cattle. The meaning shifted to 'worthless things' by the 1600s because tripe was cheap food.
Tripe is incredibly nutritious—it's almost pure collagen and protein—and is considered a delicacy in many cultures (like Mexico, Italy, and China), but English-speaking countries rejected it as 'poor people food,' showing how cultural attitudes shape what we think is good to eat!
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