What's the origin of the name "polka dot"?

Search: polka dot origin

Why: I got this rambling message from James about a conversation he had with Pablo. I'd ask him to transcribe it for me, but I imagine part/most of it was in Spanish, and I don't speak Spanish. But my understanding is that Pablo was the one who wanted to know why we say "polka dot." I wonder if they have a term like that in Peru.

Answer: It comes from the dance! Kind of! But first: there isn't really such thing as a polka dot. Word Detective, go:

A single “polka dot” is not a “polka dot” at all, but merely a “dot,” and usually a pretty boring dot at that.

Rather, what makes a "polka dot" a polka dot is that it is among other dots of the same size and inside a pattern.

Secondly, the name polka means, yes, the dance, but also it's Polish for "Polish woman." The polka dance, incidentally, started in Bohemia. Many believe that “polka” may actually be a corruption of the Czech word pulka (“half”), referring to the short half-steps of in the dance.

The dance craze spanned several decades in the 1800s and was so popular that it spurred an epidemic of naming things polka, like "polka hats" and "polka gauze." The patterns on these things were called "polka dots."

Source: Word Detective, Learn Something New Every Day

The More You Know: I have two polka dotted swimsuits. This is not my cute one:

(and my god, July was a rough month) but this is. It's by Seafolly.

I just love it.