Fast Fiction

I was reading an article on CNN a little while ago and I had to look twice at the headline.

Panhandle Children Return to School.

Of course it’s kids returning to school in the Florida panhandle.

What caught my eye is that panhandle also means begging. But why? Did beggars used to use pans? I’ve seen those documentaries about Indian monks that travel around with a little bowl that folks will fill for them while they’re on pilgrimage. Did beggars once go around asking for stuff to fill their frying pans? It’s just an odd confluence that an obscure little, ubiquitous thing like a panhandle would end up meaning a peninsula made by borders as well as begging.