More Food Terms We Loathe/Misuse

[CatPoet]

Mjx.  Nordisk or Nordic is more accepted,  I think it is most likely because  Scandinavian has been misused so much that people don't see us as separate counties and I guess you are Danish, you know the history between us all and there for it is bit weird to bunch up us as one,   Yes we have similarity but we are not the same. 

[IowaDee]

Would that be like using the word "Latino" for foods from Mexico and Central and South America?  Corn and beans strike me as the things they have in common.  When I think of "Nordic",images of seafood and wondrous bakery products fill my head.  I realize each country does have a unique take on food but they also have a lot on common with their neighbors.  Thank God, taste buds recognize no borders.  

[Martin Fisher]

The misunderstanding, misuse and abuse of "grass-fed" irritates me to no end.

[Ttogull]

I'm sure it's been mentioned before but the idiotic, yet widespread American use of 'entrée' to mean 'main course' drives me to distraction. If you really have to use French terms, find out what they mean!

 

I'm also astonished by the number of chefs/restaurateurs who need forty words to describe a simple dish on their menu, but don't have time to say 'prepare" or 'preparation'. 'Prep', indeed.

I've been reading the book "the Language of Food". The author has a tedious chapter on the original meaning of "entrée." Neither the current French nor American uses of the term match the original usage. Both retain some aspects of the original usage.

http://languageoffood.blogspot.com/2009/08/entree.html

The book also examines word choices, number of words, and other aspects of menu design.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I've been reading the book "the Language of Food". The author has a tedious chapter on the original meaning of "entrée." Neither the current French nor American uses of the term match the original usage. Both retain some aspects of the original usage.

http://languageoffood.blogspot.com/2009/08/entree.html

The book also examines word choices, number of words, and other aspects of menu design.

 

Why tedious?  Very interesting, I thought.  Thanks for the link.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

liuzhou and Ttogull,

 

That's very interesting information about the word 'entrée' and its current application in the the U.S.

 

Thank you.

 

The use of this term is so ubiquitous in our culture to mean the main course, that I had never questioned it, and I took four years of French. I'm not going to buck it at this point because it would be pointless for something so ingrained into the mainstream.

 

It also has an alternate American English meaning of gaining entry to something which is more in line with the modern French translation.

 

JoNorvelleWalker:

 

I can definitely understand Ttogull's interpretation of the linked text as tedious. It was still interesting to me too, but I slogged through it because I was hungry for the information. It's poorly written. I hope the rest of the book is better, and I reckon it must be to keep him reading.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[Shalmanese]

The entree = main course is pretty much uniquely American thing (maybe Canadian too). When I've been to Australia, the UK and other English speaking countries, entree always means appetizer.

[liuzhou]

The entree = main course is pretty much uniquely American thing (maybe Canadian too). When I've been to Australia, the UK and other English speaking countries, entree always means appetizer.

 

As it does in French. It originally meant a sort of second appetiser. It never meant main course.

[CatPoet]

There is one thing that makes me climb the walls over here in Sweden.  We have a  very well functioning word for  cookies/biscuits    which is kaka /småbröd  and yet you can buy cookies, yes the word  cookies and that annoys me.   When I walk in to a Swedish store I dont except to be asked to help the older generation   translate  what they are buying from  English to Swedish , but I have to now a days, since English terms has become fashionable.   It is even worse when it is the wrong word,  like today it was a  special on American  Chips, they meant fries, not chips  and I found  Salt Vinegar   Chips with that all British flavour, yes this is what it said,  but  Chips in UK is fries and  chips as in the  wafer  thin potato snack is crisp!

 

*gha*  

[Maedl]

Whenever I see “yummy” used in a recipe or to describe a food, I stop reading because I know I will not find the food appetizing. “Veggies” do not appeal to me, although I have met few vegetables that I do not like. “Sinful” and “sexy” don’t describe food--the writer must be talking about something else.

 

And when I pause during a meal, what’s with waiters asking me if I”m still “working on it?” Since when has eating been considered work?

[Ttogull]

Why tedious?  Very interesting, I thought.  Thanks for the link.

I think Thanks for the Crepes succinctly described it. Also, there is the difference of something that has a tedious background vs something that has been tediously explained. In my former life as an academic, calling something "tedious" can be a compliment, meaning that someone has carefully worked through complicated, long, and, to some, boring details. I think that is what I meant. I think the book itself benefits from professional editing, which the blog does not.

In any case, the author suggests that the word entrée goes beyond its superficial French translation. I learned something.