What is the meaning of sugar daddy?

If one asks a lover of all things sweet, especially candy, What is the meaning of Sugar Daddy?, they’ll tell you that it’s a caramel lollipop candy on a stick that’s made by Tootsie Roll Industries. The relatively hard caramel treat has been around since the mid-nineteen-thirties. If one asks music aficionados, What is the meaning of Sugar Daddy?, some will immediately think of the 1971 single, Sugar Daddy, by The Jackson 5, while Fleetwood Mac fans will fondly remember a song called Sugar Daddy from their 1975 eponymous album. If one asks lovers of pop culture, What is the meaning of Sugar Daddy?, fans of the now-defunct television show, Ugly Betty, will recall an episode called Sugar Daddy while fans of historical and contemporary romance novelist, Lisa Kleypas, will immediately think of her 2007 novel called, Sugar Daddy.

Clearly, the phrase “Sugar Daddy” has been around for a long time but that doesn’t explain the origins of the phrase. The phrase was actually coined by Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, otherwise known as “Big Alma” thanks to her statuesque height, who was a wealthy socialite from San Francisco. She gained notoriety in San Francisco society after successfully suing a miner for “personal defloweration” after their relationship went south. Big Alma came to the attention of sugar tycoon, Adolph B. Spreckels, after she had modeled the figure for the Dewey Monument (which today graces Union Square in San Francisco). Adolph helmed Spreckels Sugar Company, an American sugar beet refinery that controlled a large portion of the U.S. West Coast refined sugar market.

Despite their 24-year age difference, they married in 1908 after a long courtship.
Adolph bought a property in the tony Pacific Heights area of San Francisco where he built her a mansion that was completed in 1913. Big Alma soon became one of the city’s most famous hostesses and philanthropists (the mansion is now owned by famous romance novelist, Danielle Steel). So, what is the meaning of Sugar Daddy and how does its meaning relate to Big Alma, you ask? Thanks to Adolph’s family business and the considerable age gap between them, Big Alma often referred to her wealthy husband as her “sugar daddy” and the phrase has continued to live on, long after Spreckels’ death on June 28, 1924.

Although we now know the origins of the phrase, that still doesn’t explain everything. Specifically, what is the meaning of “Sugar Daddy” in today’s vernacular? Simply put, a Sugar Daddy is a well off, older man, who gifts a young woman with “lifestyle perks” in exchange for the pleasure of her company, or for favours of a sexual nature, depending on the agreed-upon relationship.

What are “lifestyle perks” you ask? These can range from a clothing allowance, a black AMEX credit card, luxury travel (with or without the Sugar Daddy), the lease or rent paid on a condo or house, limitless spa treatments or five-star dining at the best restaurants. The sky’s the limit as far as lifestyle perks go. As for the pleasure of a young woman’s company and the “favours of a sexual nature”, those are also on a wide scale and subject to interpretation.

What is the meaning of Sugar Daddy? – now you know. Thanks to Big Alma and the generosity of her sugar tycoon husband, Adolph B. Spreckels, the term “Sugar Daddy” is alive and well, thank you very much!