Food Terminology that makes you CRAZY!!

[mamachef]

I read in another thread that there are certain words that should NEVER BE USED when describing foods. I have to admit there are a few that rile me. I don't know why, but they do.

"Luscious" bugs me.
"Dolloped" is more irritating than that, and
"Piping-hot" makes me want to scream out loud and pull out my hair.

Yours?

[The Chowhound Team]

The replies in this thread have drifted widely from the original topic, and are growing increasingly unfriendly. We're going to lock this topic now.

[tatamagouche]

Oh, thought of something that does make me cringe: porn, crack, and the like in reference to food. It sounds like it's supposed to be edgy. But it's just annoying (to me).

[gaffk]

OK, this is the winner for me. I've read this thread and agree that I hate most, if not all, of these terms. But nothing will keep me from clicking on an article or running from a thread faster than the term "food porn." I'm still not even sure what kind of image that is meant to conjure in my brain.

[paulj]

Here's what I associate with 'food porn': a Bourdain show focusing on the sensual and visual appeal of food:
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows...

[invinotheresverde]

As mentioned, cannolo/cannoli and panino/panini, but nothing, and I mean nothing, gets under my skin more than "appies". Okay, maybe people asking for a drink straight up when they mean neat.

[tatamagouche]

Having said ad nauseum that there's an appropriate context for almost everything—there's just no excuse for "appies." We've got a winner.

[invinotheresverde]

Sweet! I love winning!

[c oliver]

Appies????? Now that's a new one on me. Does every bloody thing have to be so cute?!? And, yes, *I* always knew the difference between up and neat, being both a martini and single malt Scotch enjoyer :)

[donovt]

Appies may be the worst thing I've ever read. I never knew the difference between up and neat. Learn something new everyday. Luckily I'm a beer drinker, so never really needed to know.

[c oliver]

I use to own an Appaloosa and they're called Appys.

[donovt]

That's two new things I've learned today!

[small h]

Appies is dreadful. And I remember 20ish years ago when there were "appe-teaser," or worse, "appe-teazer," sections on menus. I'm still enraged about this, although I think it's gone the way of the dodo.

ETA: Gah. No, it hasn't.

http://www.google.com/search?q=appete...

[jmcarthur8]

Notably used by TV cooks, flavors that make your food "pop".

Unless it's popcorn and it really makes that sound, my food doesn't "pop".

Also used by TV decorators referring to any color, accessory, focal point - they make the room "pop".

Aargh.

[thew]

wow. why not eliminate metaphor entirely then?

[tatamagouche]

Well, this thread is about particular words that bother people. You could say that about 90% of the responses.

I don't mind "pop" personally, but I don't see why jmcarthur8's resonse is less legitimate than any other response.

[coll]

I hate "pop". It sounds like something out of a cartoon.

[tatamagouche]

Which is precisely why I kinda like it.

[onceadaylily]

I'm glad that I expanded posts that I had previously scrolled over, before I went on to defend my region's name for soda. Between that, and my mother's business as an interior designer, that's one word that fails to stand out to me.

[jmcarthur8]

Just the one would be fine, thank you.

[DCElizabeth2010]

No adult should ever use the word "Yummy"

A waiter should never as "Are you still working on that?"

.

[monkeyrotica]

Or "yummo." That's a beating right there.

[Wisco]

I can't stand the word "preparation" when "dish" or "recipe" would work just as well. (I can't really justify this dislike -- I just feel it sounds a little pretentious. No accounting for taste, etc.)

[blue room]

I'm curious-- "chowish"?
I can't decide on that one.

[tatamagouche]

I'm OK with it, not least b/c if it wasn't coined here, it was at least popularized here. I am very Chowhoundy (how about that one) in that way.

[brandywiner]

Mixed feelings here. When it's used to describe an unexpected/overlooked find, it's fun shorthand. I dislike when it's used disparagingly, as in almost any statement that ends with "... doesn't sound very chowish to me."

[boredough]

to return to your actual queston: one of my biggest pet peeves is the use of "amuse" or (the worst) "amusé" (pronounced amuzay) in place of the correct term " amuse-bouche ".

[valerie]

As some have mentioned, I cannot stand "delish". It's like nails on a chalkboard to me. A few others, also mentioned, that I find irritating are rezzy and yummy. Oh, and reco or recco and resto. Totally annoying.

[Plano Rose]

Describing mediocre food one ate at a top notch restaurant. " it just didn't knock my socks off."

[monkeyrotica]

God, yes! Can't stand when reviewers write about the salad course and inevitably come up with something like "the salad was good, but it didn't knock my socks off" or some other superlative. WTF kind of salad "knocks your socks off?" Unless its the size of a medicine ball or transforms into a moaning vulva with pure gold streaming from it, it's just a goddamned bowl of leaves and dressing. Really, where can I find a really mind-blowing salad? Something that will make me want to leave my wife for it. I want a salad that will leave me walking funny the next day. A real priapism-inducing salad. Surely this must exist?

The other thing is when they describe something as "underwhelming." Do people actually want to be overwhelmed by their food? And wouldn't they then complain about the food being overwhelming? I'd be happy if I just get whelmed. That's all I'm asking for.

[tatamagouche]

I would KILL for a bowl of moaning vulva spewing gold. And by kill I mean kill.

I dunno, though, I've had some pretty wonderful salads.

[monkeyrotica]

Yeah, but did those salads knock your socks off, make you leave your wife, and leave you walking funny? Otherwise, it's just underwhelming.

[tatamagouche]

No—but neither has anything else, literally. I have had salads that are among my most memorable dishes...

Although I can't think of any just now... :)

[ricepad]

Thank you for the most entertaining (and yet disturbing) post in this thread so far!

[brandywiner]

Hear hear!

BTW, monkeyrotica, per your profile: I've had a running battle with a friend over "very unique" (and "most unique", and so on) for nearly a decade now! (With little success, alas!)

Now, THERE's my linguistic pet peeve!

[ZenSojourner]

Ditto.

O.O

[dmjordan]

I don't like the phrase "tuck into" (Let's tuck into this pasta.) in general, but especially when an American uses it.

[blue room]

Does it have something to do with "best bib and tucker" ? (I have no idea what that is, except it's probably clothing.

[pikawicca]

"Tucker" is Aussie slang for "food," but obviously it has a different meaning the the phrase "bib and tucker."

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/be...

[Manybears]

I actually like that one.

[GraydonCarter]

"Titillating" is too sexual a term to be applied to food.

[ZenSojourner]

Not if you really love your food!

[MVNYC]

The baby talk I find annoying. Reminds me of the shmoopie episode of Seinfeld

Yum, Yummy or any variant is an especially annoying offshoot of this.

When someone is ordering food and they say "I'll DO the chicken" How does one DO a chicken?

Surprised no one mentioned the Starbucks sizes. I have no problem with foreign words but these are just meant to be pretentious. When Starbucks is the only option I will say small, medium or large.

[tatamagouche]

Re: Starbucks—I do too. That drives me nuts, esp. since it's unintuitive (isn't the grande not the biggest one)?

Re: How does one DO a chicken? Not legally, that's for sure.

[onceadaylily]

Concerning Starbucks, I've always wondered if that was akin to the confusion that some encounter with the 'tall' being a a small (12 oz.). There used to be a 'short' on the menu (which was 8 oz.), but now is only available at most locations if you ask for it. So, I've wondered if the grande *was* the largest, once upon a time, and if their attempt at branding bit them in the butt in the era of big gulp coffee sizes.

[blue room]

If a word is used to exclude or belittle the listener -- no matter how subtly --
that's what's offensive.

[Manybears]

I think my #1 pet peeve in describing food is the useless addition "oh so".

i.e. "The asparagus was oh so delicately seasoned."

Gah!

[tatamagouche]

Again, I don't mind it in the right context, which is usually slightly arch.

[thew]

"ethnic"
"authentic"

none of the above stated that is part of the natural evolution of language, like mixed language phrases, foreign words, anglicized words, anglicized words that have shifted meaning. english words that have shifted meaning, etc. bug me too much.

[deet13]

Slow food, sustainable, locavore, and organic are all terms which make me chuckle and roll my eyes.

As my Grandfather used to say, "Talking politics and religion at the dinner table can be dangerous."

[mateo21]

Oh, those silly people who want the next generation to have a viable food production system!

[deet13]

It's too bad my response irks you, Mateo. I've seen way too many of these silly fads and their unintended results over the past few decades, to even begin start buying into them now.

I've met far too many "organic" farmers in developing countries who could rightly be called "locavores" with nasty cases scurvy, shingles, beriberi, and pellagra.

IMO, the world has always filled with self-righteous folk who solely live to jump onto the next big thing, in order to control their neighbor's behavior.

[mucho gordo]

Well said, deet13

[TroyTempest]

Damn silly fads.
Don't people know that pesticide laden veggies picked weeks before ripening taste so much better.
Ah, the days of rock hard tomatoes, can't wait for them to return.

[deet13]

Then by all means start a garden and eat healthy food; but please, don't expect everyone to cheerfully join in the dismantling, or the verbal trashing of our highly successful agricultural logistics chain.

You do understand that before globalization, pesticides, fertilizers, and so on, all of our short-lived ancestors were generally malnourished "locavores", whose "organic" crops and herd animals were all subject to heat waves, famine, flooding, droughts, fungal infestations, insect plagues, and warfare.

That's the exact reason why our ancestors created processed foods, globalization, pesticides, and monoculture farming in the first place; so their progeny wouldn't have to experience famine, pestilence, or hunger the way they did.

While no one is saying that our agricultural food chain is perfect, it's worked so well that we now live longer, we're all a foot taller, and we're fatter than our ancestors were just a few generations ago.

[soupkitten]

please don't confuse greed for profits with altruism--"our ancestors" didn't create industrial processed foods-- these were created by corporations who had the means to make uniform processed nonperishable food from cheap component ingredients, and advertising means and financial incentive to sell the products to consumers at the highest profit. these corporations do not care about the health or well-being of the public-- indeed, many of these globalized multinational corporations use one arm to sell the foods that make people sick, and then with another arm, they sell the drugs and medical treatment for the resulting diseases. so they profit on both ends.

"we" are not necessarily living longer than our forebears, or living healthier lives. in fact, the poorer "we" are, the shorter our lifespan compared to our wealthier neighbors, and the more suffering "we" go through as a result of ill health before that occurs. "we" also have the most expensive health care system, and could go on and on from there.

[deet13]

So let me make sure I'm getting this right...

The soulless multinational corporations, which were created by our government regulatory codes (LLC's and what not), are after our money; and the only people who can save us from these rapacious predatory corporate beasts are the governmental bureaucrats, lawyers, and legislators who make their livings off of the existence of these multinationals?

Yeah, I'm sure they'll get right on that, right after the government designs a car that runs on pixie dust and unicorn farts. In the meanwhile, do yourself a favor and start up your own garden.

Secondly, we are living longer lives than our ancestors, and yes the number of diseases we can be diagnosed with has increased over the past 100 years.

But then 100 years ago, they would have referred to any one of 1000 diseases, which we can now diagnose and treat, as either "dropsy" or "flux".

Then they would have said it was caused by bad air/humors/evil spirits, slapped a leech on you/bled you/prayed for you/given you a heroin/whiskey/castor oil milkshake/or rattled a chicken bone at you and hoped for the best...

And who says making a buck and doing good deeds are mutually exclusive?

[Chemicalkinetics]

Soupkitten,

I think most people have this notion of good old days. The problem is that the old days were not so good. You were probably comparing what poor people eat today to what elites ate back then. If you really compare what modern poor people eat vs what ancient poor people ate, then you will realize how much progress we have made. Majority of human population in ancient era lived in hunger. For example, the average life expectancy in ancient time is about 30 years. People regularly get sick from drining water and eating foods. Not so long ago, people routinely get sick from drinking milk.

""we" are not necessarily living longer than our forebears"

Yes, we are. Considered that our average lifespan is about 78.

[pikawicca]

You are totally wrong. Small farms in America supported local, organic farming as the norm. It sustained us for many years. The bad actor in recent years is corporate agriculture that tries to convince us that heavy pesticide and anti-biotic use is the best way to produce our food. It's not. Americans do not have a longer life than people in countries that restrict GMO's and other crappy food processing options.

[pikawicca]

I eat local, organic, and sustainable when I can, and have for a long time. I have absolutely no interest in controlling what you and others eat, however.

[c oliver]

Totally agree.

[smartie]

the word 'healthy' is bugging me, it's thrown around for too many products these days, yoghurts, protein bars, cereals, rice, cooking oils, low fat stuff.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i have the same issue with natural - it really doesn't mean anything. i just saw "natural chicken" on a restaurant menu. as opposed to what?

[small h]

Robot chicken. It could happen!

[ZenSojourner]

It already has, my friend, it already has!

http://robotchicken.wikia.com/wiki/Ro...

[small h]

Ahh! I was pretty sure I didn't make that up, but I forgot where I read it.

[Tripeler]

I think a lot of people use the word "healthy" when they really mean healthful. After all these years, that still bugs me.

[barryg]

On this note--I don't like it when food is described as "good for you."

[Tripeler]

Right. If it tastes terrible to you, it cannot be "good for you" no matter how healthful it is.

[Masonville]

Any cooking verb followed by "up". Primary one being "cooked up". How a directional adverb has any place in this is beyond me. If it were just a harmless regionalism (which I suspect it was originally), no big deal, I suppose. But legions of otherwise articulate/literate people have seen fit to parrot it. It drives me crazy.

[observor]

language is an evolving thing.

[mimolette]

For a long time the use of the word "Organic" bothered me. It still does a little, as if the "conventional" foods are somehow without carbon. I hate delish, sammie, yum, tasting, foodie, nom, veggies, protein, stoup, eatery, great and favorite (Don't say it unless you mean it!), homemade (How unprofessional!), grilled to perfection. Somewhat related, I hate it when people roll their eyes back looking like they are about to pass out when they taste something, as if their nervous system is completely overwhelmed. It is so disingenuous , I completely refuse to participate.

[barryg]

I hear where you're coming from about organic, but there is also a certain irony that what we call "conventional" agriculture didn't exist before the 20th Century.

[Harters]

Don't have a problem with "organic" - where I am the word has a specific, legal basis when used to describe a foodstuff. .

[blue room]

There are words that strike me as affected, but I'm never sure that it isn't just my ignorance. Like when someone says "protein" instead of "meat" or "fish". Are they making a legitimate point (as Alton Brown might)?
Or "fowl" instead of "chicken". Or "joint" -- is that an actual cut of meat, or are you just trying to sound English? The word "cookery". The word "palate". To "dress" "greens". "Toothsome".
"Liquor" when you mean liquid.

[tatamagouche]

Where are you from? Just curious, b/c it may make a diference.

Fowl: a synonym of poultry. Totally legit. Or do you mean if you already know they're talking specifically about chicken?

To dress greens. That's what you do with dressing. As opposed to?

Palate: you could exchange more or less with tastebuds.

Protein: That tends to be a scientific/chefly thing.

Liquor for any liquid: A bit poetic. You got me there.

[blue room]

Haha I'm from...the '50s! Parents from New York state, but we moved regularly because father was in US Navy.
Yes, after everyone knows it's a chicken or turkey, fowl sounds ... not as friendly as "bird", I guess.
I put salad dressing on salad. For some reason, I never thought of it as "dressing" the salad, or dressing the cornflakes with milk. I know it's only an expression, but you asked.
"Palate" as in sophisticated or educated-- again, just an expression, but it excludes many a chowhound, I'll bet.
Protein-- you walk into your kid's room-- there's a Barbie doll and some Legos and an Etch-A-Sketch on the floor. You probably don't say "Kids, pick up your plastics!"
(A battered & fried and seasoned chicken thigh is so much more than protein!) And salad
is more than greens.) It just gets my negative attention, like when someone refers to a pair of pants/trousers/slacks as...
a "pant".

[pikawicca]

Frequently in my house, a salad is simply greens dressed with vinaigrette.

[tatamagouche]

Pick up your plastics. Ha.

No, I agree with protein. I mean I tend to use it when I'm thinking about a meal in a nutritional or categorical sense: you got your protein, your starch, your vegetable.

[barryg]

Right, you would say "pick up your toys," toys being an even more narrow and accurate term than "plastics" in this scenario. There is no other unambiguous, single word term that can replace "protein."

[blue room]

Well, too broad is sort of the problem-- "protein" is very broad and makes me think of amino acids, not a plate of food. It sounds academic, overly "instructive" in some way. Like calling an egg an embryo pod or something. Protein sounds nutritious but not tasty.
I can picture the robot nanny telling the children to relocate the "plastics" because she understands chemistry, but not play!
This is purely my gut (there's a food word!) reaction--and a mild reaction, at that.

Has anyone mentioned "chowish" yet? Pro or con?

I am undecided!

[thew]

but it IS a plate of amino acids.

[blue room]

Haha I suppose a bone china plate could be protein and amino acids too!

[barryg]

A restaurant reviewer here in Philly recently described a sloppily prepared salad as looking like it was "dressed by Peter North."

[linguafood]

"i won't be having what she's having."

[smartie]

it's common in the UK to call the roast a joint even if it's not technically a joint as in a shoulder of lamb versus a piece of meat off the bone.

[barryg]

I think the idea of using the term "protein" is that in encompasses meat, fish, fowl, even tofu or seitan. It's a concise way of referring that aspect of the dish. I like it because it is succinct and precise--how else would to refer to the meat/fish/fowl/tofu in a dish in a single word without excluding any possibilities?

[c oliver]

I'm curious. Why would you want to?

[barryg]

Western entrees are traditionally composed of a starch, vegetable, and a protein. I suppose that instead of starch you could say a "bread, pasta, rice, or a tuber with high carbohydrate content"; instead of protein you could say "meat, fowl, fish, or more recently, non-animal protein sources like tofu;" instead of vegetable you could say--well, I don't even want to go there.

So, yes, you could avoid using a single, precise word in favor of a longer, noninclusive phrase--but why would you want to?

[c oliver]

Oops, let me rephrase: WHEN would you have the occasion to use "protein"?

[barryg]

I'm pretty surprised people don't like this word. We regularly let meat, fowl, fish and tofu play the same role in cooking--the name for this role is protein. I can't think of any other way to say it.

I gave one pretty good example I thought. The most practical examples I can think of revolve around Asian noodle and rice dishes where various proteins are frequently substituted for one another. For example if I am making pad thai for dinner, my companion may ask, "what's the protein?" It's not surprising to see chicken, shrimp or tofu in this dish. Fried rice is another example. Or maybe I am creating a menu for a Mongolian BBQ type restaurant, I might divide the menu into three sections: vegetable, protein, sauce.

[c oliver]

Thanks for your example because I would have asked you to use it in a sentence. You did but it's not a sentence I'v ever used. So now I understand.

[jmcarthur8]

On the same lines, here in the deep South, the phrase that makes me nuts is "Meat and three" on a restaurant ad. It doesn't make me want to eat their food. And it doesn't suggest that there is a chef present, or anyone who creates a dish that you would want to tell your friends about. It doesn't even hint of what kind of "meat" or what they have done with it!

"Fresh veggie plate" means the vegetables were fresh before they were cooked to death in bacon fat, i.e. greens or beans.
Before I left the Midwest, a fresh veggie plate was a bunch of raw vegetables, usually with spinach dip or dill dip. Not so in Georgia.
Love it here, but Southern foods are a whole different cuisine.

[paulj]

http://www.meatandthree.com/

[jmcarthur8]

paulj, you're scarin' me!
(thanks for the laugh)

[tatamagouche]

Oh, barryg already explained. Should have scrolled down.

[small h]

<I think the idea of using the term "protein" is that in encompasses meat, fish, fowl, even tofu or seitan.>

And yet you never see rice + beans under "protein." Whyzat?

[bushwickgirl]

I asked mrbushy, who is Puerto Rican, about that, and his answer was that rice and beans are considered to be side dishes in many cultures where they're consumed, unless there's nothing else on the plate. Although when combined, los dos are a complete protein, nutritionally speaking, they are not considered as the main, um, protein, culinarily speaking.

The use of the word 'protein' is a culinary school techie term, employed when planning the evening's menu. It's been used for decades in professional settings, cuts down on verbiage and confusion, and refers to any and all proteins, animal, vegetable, grain, bean, whatever, as the term 'starch' refers to all starchy things. I'm not at all surprised that Tom Colicchio uses the term. It works well in a professional setting, as barryg describes upthread.

Whether you choose to go into your favorite restaurant and ask, "What's the protein this evening" or "I'll have Pomme Frites for my starch this evening" (you may get an odd look from the server, depending on how hip to the lingo he/she is) is up to you. I prefer to be less technical when ordering dinner.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"I'm not at all surprised the Tom Colicchio uses it. It works in a professional setting, as barryg describes upthread."
~~~~~~~~~
i totally understand and respect the professional usefulness of the term. i've been in the nutrition profession for many years and it's certainly an essential element of the vernacular...my Tom C comment wasn't about the word "protein" on its own, it was the way he used it in the phrase, "respect the protein."

[bushwickgirl]

Yes, now that's kinda silly, although I understand what he means.

I wasn't clear on your post, I just remembered seeing Tom's name here in reference to 'protein.' This thread has gotten quite long now and I couldn't find the post where I first read it. I can totally see Tom behind the line asking his sous, "What's the protein for the evening?" because he can't remember.

Expressions like that probably make for good Top Chef, though.

[donovt]

In the French Laundry cookbook, Thomas Keller talks about killing his own rabbits for the first time. He goes on to say that this taught him how much you need to respect the animal.

I think Tom C is using the phrase in the same context. If I ever heard him say it about tofu, I might feel differently.

[tatamagouche]

You could be right, although in that case he should name the animal by name—that would be more honest. My guess would be more that he means specifically respect it as an ingredient...not that I've ever watched the show.

[small h]

I would be very unlikely to refer to the "protein," for two reasons. I am not a food professional, so for me to use terms only a food professional needs to use would feel like a sad attempt to seem more insider-y. And calling food "protein" makes me think I should be getting it out of the replicator on Star Trek.

[tatamagouche]

Well, you do hear people refer to it as "complete protein"—I dunno if they do that in the same kitchen setting we're talking about though.

[barryg]

Because rice & beans are not "a protein." It's a dish that happens to offer complete protein--is has all of the essential amino acids. The meaning is different, and in fact the dish has much more carbohydrate content than protein content; the other examples are all majority or 100% protein.

[Veggo]

I don't buy anything that's "Lite" , and I hate the word. "Lite" means it has less of the good stuff.

[mucho gordo]

You've got that right, Veggo.

[ratbuddy]

"With."

As in "with au jus."

Ugh.

[ElGimpo]

haha, yes, forgot about that one, just awful...

[c oliver]

That was one funny thread.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i was thinking about that thread the other night - i may have been watching The Next Iron Chef, or perhaps it was Best Thing I Ever Ate, but whatever it was, the chef was talking about making "the au poivre." arghhhh!!!

[boredough]

yes, pronounced "aw jew" - are you talking to Jackie Mason?

[ElGimpo]

Drives me nuts:

"pop it in the oven" How do you 'POP' anything in the oven? aaarghhh

"let the juices re-distribute" Juices aren't just hanging around in a corner somewhere waiting to redistribute.. they THICKEN as they cool!! aaaaaaaargh!!!!

"these bad boys" double aaaaargh!!!!!!!!!

[mucho gordo]

I agree with you on "these bad boys". I guess it's an attempt to play to their preferred demographics; the younger crowd.

[ospreycove]

Oh, I detect jammyness, and tobacco, and a little saddle leather, and this is a very fruit forward wine, with a round finish it stands very tall.......I could retch!!!!!

[c oliver]

I LOATHE that one. We go from babytalk to sophomoric dreck.

[paulj]

juice redistribute - as when letting a steak rest? Where'd you read about them thickening?

http://www.chow.com/food-news/53754/w...

[chileheadmike]

Flavor profile.
Washed down with....

[linguafood]

whoa. so many hang-ups.

i could find a number of things food-related that drive me crazy, but words? meh.

[skippy66]

And, can we please call the refrigerator the refrigerator and not the fridge. I guess some people just need a place to put their yummy veggies and sammies.

[paulj]

What's wrong with fridge? I use it when speak and in informal writing. 'refrigerator' is overly long for such a commonly used name.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i'm with you on this one, paulj. i use fridge all the time because one syllable is just easier than five...but i would have an issue if people found the need to shorten freezer :)

[coll]

My grandmother always called it the Fridgidair, even though it was probably GE.

[greygarious]

When I was a toddler, I called it the "fooderator" - I can still remember that the (Kelvinator, I think) nameplate was at the bottom of the door, not to far below my 2yr old eye level. Proof that my interest in food started early.

[greygarious]

I plead guilty to fridge, and like toothsome, redolent, and unctuous as correctly defined. Hate veggie, yummy, delish, resto, all the "ies". Julia Child said "nom" - I think it was in the Baking with Julia series. Broke my heart.

Not yet mentioned are my all-time top loathes: awesome and amazing. Could they BE more overused? These words should be accompanied by jaw-dropping astonishment. Are you in fact awestruck by your food? Perhaps unfairly, whenever I read a review/recipe in which food, ambience, or service are described with either of the "a" words, I am doubtful that my tastes align well with those of the person using them.

[linguafood]

awesome post.

'-)

[pikawicca]

"nom?"

[greygarious]

Num, nom......tomato, tomahto.

[tatamagouche]

Well, but awesome's got a different connotation as slang than it did as a term meaning wonder-evoking. That doesn't bother me. Amazing, however, I take your point.

[Jay F]

I hate "veggies." It's as if carrots and broccoli and onions are these adorable little things that just can't wait for us to chuck them on the chin. While they grin. Adorably.

[smartie]

it's sarnies in the UK!!

[blue room]

There, or in their tummies.

[jfood]

Add some of mine:

- calling anything served on a flat bread a pizza. drives me nuts with Thai Pizza, or Caesar Salad Pizza
- sliders - they are little hamburgers. sliders are served by White Castle
- calling a manwich a sloppy joe. a sloppy joe is a great sndwich brought to NJ from Cuba 50+ years ago, not chopped up beef with lousy sauce
- placing some ingredients on a plate and placing a small sheet of pasta on top and calling it a ravioli

[ipsedixit]

"- sliders - they are little hamburgers. sliders are served by White Castle"
_____________________

Hmm, not necessarly, j.

Slyders = White Castle steamed mini burgers.

Sliders = mini burgers.

Source: http://www.cheese-burger.net/stories/...

[jfood]

sliders and slyders are both WC burgers. If you remember last year the home page of WC had slyders and they switched back to sliders.

if it is not served by WC then it is a small hamburger, if sold by WC it is a slider or slyder.

this thread is about wht bugs people and this bugs me.

Now the next level...tuna sliders, pork belly sliders, don't get me started. :-))

[The Professor]

White Castle likely started using the term "Slyders" because by using the odd spelling, they could trademark it.
WC burgers have been called 'sliders' for as long as I can remember. It was just their misfortune that it became a generic term that they probably couldn't register as a trademark.

[paulj]

If we are going to be picky about usage, shouldn't it be Manwich, designating a brand name? Sloppy joe is something I learned to make from the Betty Crocker cookbook for boys and girls, long before Hunts produced their canned version. I never heard of the obscure NJ version (tripledecker deli) until I started hang around CH. :)

Oh, and Sloppy Joe's is a bar in Key West, not Cuba.

http://www.sloppyjoes.com/menu.htm
"The Original Sloppy Joe Sandwich - IT MADE US & KEY WEST FAMOUS! Delicious ground beef in a sweet rich tomato sauce, with onions, peppers and spices. $8.75"

[jfood]

Now we have two urban legends

Town Hall’s own traditional recipes. It is widely accepted that the Sloppy Joe sandwich
was named after one discovered at Joe’s Bar and Eatery in Havana by Robert Sweeney, the then-mayor of Maplewood, in 1934 while he was on vacation. Ernest Hemingway and other famous figures frequented Joe’s in Havana, which at the time, was open to American tourism. Joe, the proprietor, was well known for the disarray in the Bar - alas, the nickname “Sloppy Joe”! While the Mayor was at Joe’s in Cuba, he had a sandwich that he loved so much that when he returned to the States, he asked the owners of the Town Hall Deli in South Orange to replicate it. It was made with cole slaw, cow tongue and swiss cheese, with lots of dressing on thin rye bread. And thus, the Sloppy Joe that is infamous across New Jersey, and becoming more familiar across the country, was born. And now you know the REAL story of the Sloppy Joe.

http://localhostr.com/files/999a40/To...

Oh the beauty of the "obscure" NJ version.

[Harry Niletti]

If the American sloppy joe came from Cuba, it had to start the trip a lot longer than 50 years ago. Together with great onion rings and lime cokes, the Kegs in Grand Forks, North Dakota, has been serving a fabulous sloppy joe for 75 years (see brief video at http://dullumfile.areavoices.com/2010... ), and I guarandamntee you that Cuba is neither part nor parcel of its provenance. When I lived in Miami for six years, I visited Key West occasionally but didn't feel a need to stop at the tourist joint that promotes itself by claiming it invented sloppy joes. The place may be two years older than the Kegs, but, stuck out there in a Neverland of tourists and rum runners, it couldn't possibly know what generation after generation of Grand Forks teenagers and grandmothers know about this great sandwich. Please don't tell anyone, however. I'd hate to see Grand Forks overrun with LA scenesters looking for the next beefy thing.

-Harry

[jfood]

H

I am not quesioning the history of the SJ at Kegs, i would bet it is the chopped beef version from looking at their menu. The NJ Sloppy Joe is seen in the attached photo.

[paulj]

That looks like a high tea sandwich, not something produced at a sloppy bar! I suppose, though, once you bite into it and ingredients starts sliding around it quickly becomes a mess. :) Don't they use frilled toothpicks to hold it together?

[jfood]

Never said it was produced at a sloppy bar. it is normally produced at a great deli.

The slice you see stands around 2-2.5 inches tall, wide and long in all directions. When served at a bar mitzvah they normally slice the bread lengthwise , then make the Joe and slice into 8 pieces with a frilly toothpick to hold. Normally 5-6 bites worth each. Believe it or not they are pretty stable.

Delis will make an individual Joe on rye bread (real one slice a whole rye thinly in a meat slicer). Then they construct and cut into three pieces.

[blue room]

I've never seen such a sandwich! Surely it deserves its very own and unique name, not Sloppy Joe.

[jfood]

You live with the name they give you. There are other varieties like the Smokey Joe that uses smoked fish instead of meats, but i was never a fan.
then there is the friday special which is tuna salad and egg salad.

nj has contributed a few items to the culinary landscape and the nj sloppy joe is brilliantly done.

[GraydonCarter]

You'd think so. They call it sloppy because of all the cole slaw piled on top.

[Harry Niletti]

Some BBQ joints in the South also put the coleslaw right on the sandwich, but they don't call it sloppy Q!

The point for jfood is that Jersey may have designated their sandwich a Sloppy Joe over the last 50 years (and I think I knew that somewhere in the back of my mind), but, in my experience living all over the country, the name is used differently everywhere else. Like most ground-beef-based sandwiches other than the hamburger (meatball, meatloaf, loose-meat, e.g.), what the rest of us call sloppy joes are often very badly made and not worth the calories. That's why the Kegs (the place I pointed to up in Grand Forks, ND) is so notable. They're sloppy delicious, Jane. Get some. Tarzan hungry. Incidentally, "Manwich" is a commercial product that comes in a can and, IIRC, another lousy version.

Just thinking about the Kegs is inspirational. I'm in the middle of paying a few bills and hope I don't accidently sign a check "Sloppy Joe"!

-Harry

[jfood]

:-))

when i was a freshman in college eating Macke-anize junk one day we went to te cafeteria and saw Sloppy Joe on the menu. Yes. i yook my tray went through the line and ordered an SJ. And they gave me a manwich, WTF!!! Still scarred for life.

hard to believe there is a place that makes an edible manwich.

BTW - the bank will cash the check no matter what you sign it.

[phofiend]

The word "Eatery" disgusts me. I also can't stand when "protein" is used to refer to the main dish.

[goodhealthgourmet]

phofiend, this doesn't bode well for your success as a contestant on Top Chef...it's essential that you "honor the protein." ;)

[c oliver]

That just makes me want to puke :)

[goodhealthgourmet]

yeah, i lost some respect for Tom Colicchio when he started saying that.

[The Professor]

Me as well. That really is probably the one food affectation that annoys me more than any other.

[Katie in Berkeley]

I have an irrational aversion to the phrase "topped with." It sounds so faux-casual. "Oh, I just fried up a little kale and topped it with a little lemon and parm." Vom.

Along the lines of "house-made," fullyfunctional, there's a bar in Berkeley that used to describe their cocktails as "hand-shaken." Hand shaken? Really? Machine-shaken would be worth noting, methinks, not hand-shaken.

[Whinerdiner]

Right. And what about "hand made" meatballs? How else would you do it? And "hand crafted" burgers? How much craftiness is involved?

[paulj]

The meatballs could have come from a factory, frozen. I keep a bag of small ones from Trade Joes on hand.

Similarly burgers could be made with preformed patties.

[TroyTempest]

"slather" - just sounds gross

[Harters]

'Tis gross. It's such a useful and precise word - conveys exactly what's going on.

[Jay F]

It should. It is.

I slathered so slatheringly yesterday, I had to put some back.

[Harters]

I usually want to resort to extreme violence when food is referred to as "awesome" or, worse, "to die for".

If any culprits woudl now like to line up, I will repeatedly stab you with my fork until you promise to stop.

[ospreycove]

"Oh taste the MELTY Cheese" as in Tyler Florence ( that has to be a stage name)!!!!!!!!!

[mamachef]

And again, back to the "verbinating" of so many words......."ospreycove can't come to the phone right now, she's "meltying."

[woodleyparkhound]

I think "price point" and "flavor profile" sound pretentious.

[paulj]

Wouldn't that depend on who's using them? Even your use of 'pretentious' can sound pretentious. :)

[tatamagouche]

Or in what context. That's my feeling in a nutshell about this thread—there are very few words/phrases I'm inclined to delete from my vocabulary insofar as they may serve a purpose in a given context. If the word fits, use it.

(Since the aforementioned stoup does nothing stew or soup can't do better, however, that is one I happily excise.)

[small h]

Does "price point" have a different meaning than "price"? If not, then I say kick it to the curb.

[tatamagouche]

I've always wondered about the psychology of pricing (related to the prix fixe subthread above). Supposedly $16 is scarier than $15.99, etc. I think the aim is to subtly (or not so subtly) distract from the word PRICE.

[yfunk3]

Having just used this term myself (heh heh), I use "price point" instead of just "price" when Iw ant to distinguish between a set price (e.g. $16.75) and a range/category (e.g. $15-$20/entree or "mid-range/2-stars" on my own personal scale).

Just saying "price" is a little too vague sometimes, kwim?

And we can all be/sound pretentious sometimes. I mean, can anyone REALLY read any Chowhound message board and NOT say that? LOL

[small h]

<Just saying "price" is a little too vague sometimes, kwim?>

Well, no. "How are the prices?" "Not bad, entrees are in the low twenties." I would be more likely to have this conversation.

P.S. Be careful with that acronym for "know what I mean." Don't say it out loud in mixed company, anyway.

[yfunk3]

Well, I would never say an internet acronym out loud ever or use netspeak in real life except when joking. :o)

And "price" being too vague in the sense that I'm not referring to specific prices, but to the range I'm looking for. e.g. "What's your preferred price point for dinner when on vacation in Hawaii?" Now, I know there are many other ways to say the same thing, but that's just an example of why that phrase exists and why it comes into my brain sometimes.

[c oliver]

I think "price range" is better. Not that Wiki is the be-all and end-all but this is more what price point means to me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_point

I've always thought of it the way they use it so when I hear it taking the place of price or price range, it never sounds right to me.

[yfunk3]

Ah, gotcha. I probably heard it at some point in the past or from someone just using it in whatever casual sense, and it just stuck. I'll be sure to try and be clearer from now on, but I can't promise that my brain will remember and that it won't still slip out every now and then. Heh.

[c oliver]

My husband spent most of his professional life working for a major apparel manufacturer so "price point" had a specific meaning. But, yeah, an ingrained thing is hard to break.

[brandywiner]

I'd never encountered this acronym before now, much less any unsavory connotations. Then I googled it; nope, just "know what I mean". Then I googled its homonym... As George Takei would say: "Oh. My......"

The things you learn on these boards....

[small h]

When I was in fifth grade, my best friend's mom went on and on about how much her cat shed, and how she wanted to shave it, because it would be so much easier to have a...

And that's when I found my calling: to warn people against accidentally saying dirty words. Goodnight, Mrs. Feinberg, wherever you are.

[harryharry]

Oh... I've got so many - do phrases count?

here are some pet peeves...
Are you all set with that ?
Have we made a decision yet?
With a sauce of..... (for absolutely everything on the menu!!) a sauce of ground up monkey brains, greasy grimy gopher guts.... that's what I think of every time I hear that!!!
With a.... (for absolutely everything on the menu!)

Here are a couple of irrational peeves:
Stuffed (the wording sounds gross)
Meatballs (on an hors d'oeuvres menu)
Crusty (esp. hot and crusty)

But... to be fair - I write menus a lot and it gets really hard to come up with non-repetitive descriptors and ones that also sound appetizing

[mamachef]

"Have we decided yet." I don't know...have WE? What are your thoughts on what WE should be ordering?
There's a restaurant abroad called Demel's that takes it a step further.....I think it's third person but am not sure exactly, but the "abbess" (great name for a food server!) will ask, "have THEY decided yet?"

[tatamagouche]

Huh? You mean they're talking to you but using the third person in reference to you?

[fullyfunctional]

"House-made". Spare me.

"bake off" or "cook off", as in, "I've got some cookie dough to bake off"...drop the "off" and it means the same, but sounds less pretentious.

[mamachef]

Guilty, your honor. Guilty as sin.

[ospreycove]

Actually, "Bake Off and Brown Off" are terms used in bakeries that use frozen dough or par-baked breads rolls etc.

[c oliver]

Seeing house-made as in "house-made salumi" gets my immediate and favorable attention.

[Jay F]

I think "off" is chef school talk. I've always hated it, too.

[MelMM]

+1 for "house-made". Great that they made whatever it is, but there needs to be another way to say it.

[tatamagouche]

"House" is a restaurant term—front of the house, back of the house, etc. And since I agree that it's not "homemade," "housemade" seems perfectly sensible to me. Not sure what's annoying about it...?

[observor]

Probably because they could use "homemade" and the connotation would be exactly the same, but because they choose to say "house" it seems like they are consciously aware of their "role" and "importance" in the world as a food establishment...saying that this is a professional "house", not just a low-grade "home". Personally, I like the use of "in-house" better.

[MelMM]

I'm not sure I can put my finger on it, and I'm not claiming it's a rational aversion that I have. It just seems one of these made-up phrases that's being overused of late. If they described something as being "made in-house" as observor notes below, it would not bug me at all.

[harryharry]

I believe that there are actually some legal issues with using the term homemade in a commercial enterprise - so house made, although it sounds very annoying - even to one who uses it - is the next best thing to home made.... use it where the item/ingredient is frequently "sourced" from else where - such as - house made sweet pepper jelly....

[bushwickgirl]

You're correct about the legalities. The term homemade cannot be used in restaurants, as the food is, well, not homemade. The initial term many restaurants adopted was "home style," and was popular for a number of years, but it sounds like, as harryharry wrote, "anything with chunks," and smacks of diner food, and not your Aunt Emma's diner. So it morphed into the more upscale "house made" or "in house made" or "house prepared" or whatever, which while sounding slightly pretentious, are actually very descriptive terms.

Past thread and short amusing blurb on the different terms and how people respond to them:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/05/language-menus-housemade-is-the-new-homemade-menus.html

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6199...

[mucho gordo]

How about "Home Style"?

[harryharry]

Home style makes me think of anything with chunks (another fabulous descriptor).... campbell's home style chicken noodle soup

[LoBrauHouseFrau]

As someone else already mentioned, E.V.O.O. drives me up a wall.

"Chunky" is not a word that brings appetizing visuals to mind.

[small h]

<"Chunky" is not a word that brings appetizing visuals to mind.>

So you're not a peanut butter fan?

[LoBrauHouseFrau]

I love peanut butter. I love Ben & Jerry's ice cream, I even like the candy bar. I just don't like the word chunky. :)

[small h]

I see your point. It's an unattractive word. Like "unctuous."

[mamachef]

The word "unctuous" calls to mind an unattractive flavor profile that leaves a waxy finish after you get past the mouthfeel. ; )

[FoodChic]

LOL!

[tatamagouche]

See, that's one that everyone makes fun of, but I kinda like it, used in the right context. Also like chunky.

The fact is I kinda like ugly words. They're honest to me in a way that ugly food is honest—sausages, casseroles, stews.

Conversely—I'm actually working on a blogpost about this—I do not like words with moral connotations. Heavenly, sinful, etc.

[mamachef]

Not a moral connotation, but "to die for" might be one to include there...see upthread.....

[MGZ]

I think that regardless of what type of writing it is, overuse of any word or phrase, particularly those intended to describe, gets boring, or worse, annoying to a reader. Consequently, while seeing chicken wings repeatedly referred to as "hellishly hot" gets on my nerves, a clever complaint about Methuselian oysters or a witty nod to the Gomorran offerings on the dessert cart is generally welcome.

[Kitchen Bitchen]

Ditto to: Yummy, veggies, delish, Anything out of the mouth of R.Ray

Foodies: Read Reichl to understand how much animosity their exist toward those of us the professionals (meaning those making a living from food with or without talent) describe as a foodie. I would NEVER call myself a foodie.

Gourmet: A word that has been so bastardized as to have no remaining consistent meaning. When I get called a "Gourmet Chef" I correct them back to "cook". I would not want to have dinner with anyone calling themselves a "Gourmet Chef".

The "mummms" (with closed eyes) that follow every tasting by Chris and his cook following any segment of ATK or Cook's Country.

Why not just eliminate the ending review (tasting) of the dishes. They virtually never give useful information and never say where it went wrong. Since I record most of these shows and watch later I do fast forward through them. I guess this is a legacy of Julia Child.

[tatamagouche]

As a food writer, I pay attention to these threads. Some of the words are words I use, because they're perfectly good descriptive words, e.g. dollop. Some I don't. I can understand being bugged by overuse.

The truth is food writing—I mean the actual description of food part—is fairly limited. On the one hand, it's easy to be boring. On the other, it's also easy, in the interest of being creative, to be laughable (e.g. the golden age of Restaurant Girl).

I just hope I err on the side of hilarious, even if at my own expense, rather than sleep-inducing. :)

[mamachef]

An admirable point well taken, tatamagouche.

[GraydonCarter]

All our words from loose using have lost their edge.

[MelMM]

"Bleu cheese" drives me absolutely nuts.

[The Professor]

????
It's a type of cheese. Maybe you don't like the cheese, but there's nothing wrong with the name.

[small h]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here & guess that MeIMM doesn't like the Franglishness. There's a restaurant near me that serves an uni panini. Love the sandwich, not so keen on the name.

[tatamagouche]

I know whereof you speak, and I don't mind the mix of languages—but if they call a singular panino a panini, that would bug me.

[Harters]

In the UK, panino's are always panini. Bugs me too - but we don't really "do" Italian here.

[small h]

Note that it's a tapas restaurant. Surely there is a Spanish word for sea urchin. And one for sandwich. You're probably better with languages than I am (most everyone is), so if you'd like to do a quick copy edit, here's the menu. And I reiterate that the food's really good.

http://www.elquintopinonyc.com/menu.html

[paulj]

According to this article
http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2007/10...
the 'uni panini' is an invention of the chef

"As for the name, she defended her choice by saying that it was natural to appropriate things in the language that you experience them, and that as far as she was concerned anything that comes out of a panini press is a panino, and presumably anything that comes out of a spiny urchin, uni. “And besides,” she said, “uni panini sounds cute.”
"
So panini is used instead of panino because it 'rhymes' with uni.

[tatamagouche]

It may rhyme, but it's still inaccurate, unless there are two on a plate.

Funny, small h, I've been reading (and enjoying) your posts for so long, I thought you were a Bostonian, and I thought you were referring to Coppa. So I guess I didn't know whereof you spoke.

[paulj]

Ungramatical Italian is a better description than inaccurate. But neither the chef or her audience are speaking Italian.

It's curious that some posters in this thread are bothered by the use of French or Spanish pronunciations when there are accepted English pronunciations, yet others are bothered when Americans fail to apply to Italian grammar rules to borrowed words.

[tatamagouche]

I don't agree...saying there's more than one when there's only one is inaccurate.

I do agree that what people are bothered by or not by is totally curious! Very subjective, which is what makes threads like this so fun. :)

[paulj]

'panini' means more than one only if it is understood as a grammatical Italian word, not if it is a borrowed one.

In Italian does 'panino' mean a pressed sandwich, or just simply a roll (small bread)? In American usage the use of the grill is strongly implied. Further compounding the 'inaccuracy', this uni sandwich uses a French roll, not an Italian one. :)

[Harters]

In my experience, "panino" in Italy gets you a particular shape of bread roll. A "panino de whatever" gets you a "whatever sandwich" using that bread.

[lavaca]

There's no contradiction here. If you're going to use a language that's neither your native tongue nor the language of the country you're in, you have to do it correctly and in the proper context.

[paulj]

Though in this case the chef is using a borrowed word, not an Italian word in an Italian context, or among Italian speakers.

One of your other posts pointed me to a Spanish word for sandwich which I wasn't familiar with, bocadillo. The Quinto Pino menu uses it (for the squid sandwich). The section heading is 'bocatas', and a particular pressed sandwich is a Bikini (a popular snack in Barcelona).

Talking about borrowings, 'sandwich' is used in Spanish, but it is mispronounced 'sahnd-weech'. In some countries it is spelled/pronounced as sánduche or sánguche (the final e is pronounced).

[lavaca]

Looking at the menu of El Quinto Pino, the inclusion of something called "uni panini" is almost comical in the context of everything else on the menu. I think we can give them a pass for such a brazen disregard for culinary and linguistic consistency.

[thew]

but panini is no longer only the italian plural. it is now also the english name for that type of grilled pressed sandwich - correctly or not in the italian, that is now the english word

[tatamagouche]

Panino is perfectly usable. I just don't see what the difficulty is. Sandwich/sandwiches, panino/panini.

[paulj]

It's not difficult, as long as no one thinks you're being pretentious. :)

[tatamagouche]

Too true. Again, we all have our pet likes and dislikes on this topic. This just happens to be one of mine...I'm sure it will be beaten out of me someday.

[thew]

except for in l'academie francais language does not develop by diktakt, but develops organically. it has nothing to do with logic or difficulty. rightly or wrong, in respect to italian, in english the word panini has come to mean one pressed sandwich. appeals to logic or italian usage fall on deaf ears.

[small h]

Boston! How about that. Nope, NJ 'til '83, and La Isla Bonita thereafter. But our mayor sounds like he's from Boston. (I don't. At all.)

[brandywiner]

Bloomberg should sound like he's from Boston; he was born there, and grew up in my hometown of Medford.

And everyone tells me I don't sound like I'm from Boston, either....

[goodhealthgourmet]

i suspect MelMM is bothered by the use of the french spelling "bleu"...?

[MelMM]

Yes, especially in conjunction with the english word "cheese", and since not all blue cheeses are French. If you and/or the cheese are French, feel free to say/write "fromage bleu". To me, using the French adjective with the English noun to describe something that could be American, English, Irish, Danish, Spanish, Italian, etc, makes the writer seem simultaneously pretentious and uneducated.

[Harters]

+1.

I have a general dislike of using words from another language to describe food, when your own language copes perfectly well.

For example "prix fixe". Whatever's wrong with "fixed price"?

[aching]

I don't mind the term "prix fixe", but it makes my skin crawl when people mispronounce it. If you're going to use a French term with English pronunciation, please just use the English term with English pronunciation!

[paulj]

The English language has a long history of assimilation, including a heavy dose of Norman-French.

[aching]

I know that. I guess my problem is not with people using words or terms that originated in other languages, but with people mispronouncing them (e.g. "price fix", "pricks fix", etc.). I have a problem with people mispronouncing English words too!

[MVNYC]

That is also part of language evolution. Incorporating foreign terms and altering the pronunciation.

[aching]

Well, that's a nice way to look at it! Not wrong, just more evolved. =)

[MVNYC]

Language evolution is a very interesting topic. If you look at the Romance languages, they are merely regional variants of Vulgar Latin that have been mispronounced enough over the years to form their own languages. Take that and add in neighbouring language add ins as well as immigration and it is a fairly organic process.

Also their are new languages that are formed based on a common lingua franca which become pigeon languages. One famous example is the Tok Pisin language of Papua New Guinea. English was the unifying language of hundreds of indigenous languages brought together under colonialism. So in order to understand one another the people spoke a pigeon form of English which heavily changed the pronunciation and meanings of words. Best example of this phenomenon is the name of the language itself. Tok Pisin = Talk Pigeon

[greygarious]

The word is "pidgin", not "pigeon".

[MVNYC]

Sorry for the typo

pidgin
1876, from pigeon English (1859), the reduced form of the language used in China for communication with Europeans, from pigeon (1826), itself a pidgin word, representing a Chinese pronunciation of business. Meaning extended 1921 to "any simplified language."

[paulj]

What do you expect when people read the written word before they ever hear it spoken? My crude approach to pronouncing French spellings is to omit the last half of the word. :) I've studied Spanish (with fairly rational spelling rules), but very little French.

[c oliver]

And not just food. Someone pointed out "double entendre" as a great example.

[small h]

But double is a French word as well as an English word. Although I would say "dubble" and not "doobluh."

[c oliver]

Sorry. I thought "double" was spelled different in French. I took the word of someone who seemed quite knowledgeable.

[ZenSojourner]

babelfish.org to the rescue!

[Harters]

"Double entendre" is a long-standing phrase in British English (invariably in the context of something sexual)- and we pronounce it as in French.

[linguafood]

Even the 'double?'

[Harters]

Of course.

It would be most odd to pronounce "double" in English and "entendre" in French, surely?

[linguafood]

Well, that's what the Americans do, at least. Dubble, and then their "French" pronunciation of entendre.

So you say dooble, not dubble? Curious, you Brits '-)

[Harters]

"So you say dooble, not dubble?"

Yep. Maybe our willingness to pronounce a French phrase in French is due to the fact the country is only 22 miles away. It's almost sort of into the culture.

I wonder how an Anglophone Quebecer (?) might pronounce it?

[linguafood]

I thought it was the British love for everything French '-D

[GraydonCarter]

I'm bothered by the use of wine-tasting terms being applied elsewhere. Oaky. Earthy. Finish.

I'm bothered by the use of movie-review terms being applied to wine-tasting. Accessible. Edgy. Charming.

[thew]

but what if some food does have an oaky or earthy flavor? if a food has a lingering aftertaste how should that be described, if not its finish?

[MGZ]

I can no longer stand to see/hear something described as "to die for."

I will gladly get you another piece, if you'll make good on your promise.

[onceadaylily]

You beat me to it the thread, mamachef.

I have to say only the cute words bother me. Yummy, delish, etc. If it sounds like an airplane noise isn't too far behind the word, I don't like hearing it. But, honestly, those few words only bother me a little. I like words too much to outright ban any one of them my tongue.

[mariacarmen]

"I like words too much to outright ban any one of them from my tongue"

Excellently put, OADL!

[im_nomad]

Here in Canada, where we have Tim Hortons..... it annoys me to no end when people say they are going for their / to "Timmies"

I don't know why.

[smartie]

I do not like the word veggies.

[woodleyparkhound]

YES!!! "Veggies" was what I was going to say!! That has always driven me around the bend. It's so cutsie-poo and I refuse to use it under any circumstances. I hate it when adults talk in baby talk - this reminds me of that. "Sammies" is a similar thing. I agree with skippy66 on "yummy" and even worse... adults who call their stomach a "tummy".

Here's a new pet peeve which has come to my attention on this board in the past few months: "nom...nom...nom". That makes me want to rip my hair out by the roots!

[mamachef]

I have a dear friend whose worst awful term is calling crunchy things "crunchity" or "crispity." It makes me want to hand her a pacifier and puree all her crunchy crispy food into a paste.

[small h]

Your friend has seen one too many Butterfinger commercials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRHlQc...

[c oliver]

"Veggies" is like fingernails on a blackboard to me.

[barryg]

It seems really common amongst Indian-Americans (like, from the country of India) to use "veg" for both vegetable and vegetarian.

[jmckee]

oh LORD neither do I. Particularly in "ways to disguise veggies for your little ones."

[greedygirl]

Veggie is often used in British English to mean vegetarian. I too dislike it when it refers to vegetables.

[skippy66]

"Yummy"

Should not be used by anyone over the age of 3.

[jmckee]

And for some reason 'tasty" bugs me. "Tasty" -- having taste? being associated with taste?

[Tripeler]

Food critics who write
1. Mouthwatering (anything)
2. Crusty (bread)
3. Masterpiece (anything)
4. Addictive (anything)

[melpy]

Many times I want to know if something is crusty bread rather than chewy bread or a bun of some sort. I want my bread to be crusty!

[mamachef]

Folks, this was posted in the spirit of fun, not controversy. I asked for opinions. And you cannot argue someone on their opinion. Words may be used incorrectly or correctly or in our out of context, and it's still all just opinion. Certain words and phrases bug me, and evidently there are others out there who feel the same way. Lighten up, CH's. Nobody here's attacking anybody else.

[gilintx]

I'm convinced that the word "toothsome" was invented by food critics to describe things that they had no opinion of one way or another.
"Redolent" likewise seems to have very little use, other than being a two-dollar word for "tasted like."
I have also recently come to quietly loathe anyone who refers to themselves as a "foodie." The self-labeling seems to bring out the worst in people.

[mariacarmen]

redolent has to do with smell, not taste. not that they're unrelated!
and i'm guilty of using it. but i like it! i like toothsome too! i like nosh, dollop, luscious, sammie.... "she said redolently." ( :

[paulj]

From the dictionary entry I'd say redolent has deep English roots (from Latin via Old French). It may not be part of colloquial American English, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be used (correctly).

[melpy]

I am guilty of saying toothsome (or rather typing it). I don't know "al dente" doesn't seem to fit with rice in my head and if I"m talking about risotto...toothsome is just the word that comes to mind.

[goodhealthgourmet]

melpy, the definition of toothsome has to do with flavor, not texture - it means tasty or delicious.

[steamer]

Decadent and sinful are my gripes. Can't anyone write about chocolate in some other terms?

[kevin47]

Nosh - In addition to being unbearably pretentious, it sounds like you are regurgitating something. Also has no meaning. I would never ask my friend to meet me for a light nosh.

Beautiful - This is a restaurant, not a reality show. I'll decide if it's beautiful, thanks.

Anything in quotes - If it isn't what the menu says it is (usually a deconstruction), then tell me what it is.

Confit - Everything's a confit now. It's a very specific preparation, not just a way of chopping your food. It does not mean "confetti".

Gastropub - In addition to sounding gross, it is almost never used correctly.

Mosaic - Means nothing. Tells me nothing about the dish. Usually indicates chemical chicanery.

Farm to table - All this means is that I am not getting an entree of salt.

Homemade - This is great if I am dining in a home. Less so if I am dining in a commercial property.

Famous - Very few restaurants are famous for anything. Those that are do not describe their dishes as famous. I'll excuse the roadside diners for this superlative, but not the rest.

Cuisine - On websites, in lieu of "menu". I get that I cannot reduce the chef's brilliance to a mere "menu". Believe me, I get it. On the same note, I understand that mere "directions" cannot do justice to the locale and ambiance your restaurant creates. However, if I cannot find your restaurant, I cannot experience any of that, and I will be late for my reservation as I fiddle through your "about", "home" and "contact us" sections.

Charcuterie - It's not a glorified cheese and crackers plate, dammit!

Sliders - If you have to use this descriptor to sell your food, do not serve it.

[kristinklb]

Nosh has meaning. How is it pretentious? It's Yiddish. You don't "meet for a light" nosh (that would sound pretentious!). You "go for" a nosh or "have" a nosh or you nosh "on something". Oh, wait... has nosh been stolen by pretentious foodies? Now that would be a bummer.

Anyway, FOODIE. Horrible word.

[jmckee]

I fully agree. Nosh is a perrfectly acceptable word. Highly useful, even.

I have no problem with Foodie, however.....

[Wisco]

Amen to FOODIE!

[GraydonCarter]

This, from the Chowhound Manifesto:

"We're not talking about foodies. Foodies eat where they're told. Chowhounds blaze trails. They comb through neighborhoods for culinary treasure. They despise hype. And while they appreciate ambiance and service, they can't be fooled by flash."

Also, although I know it is a perfectly cromulent word, I don't like Degustation.

[thew]

i've never agreed with Leff's definition of foodie in the manifesto, and the word doesn;t generally mean that in common usage.

it's all well and good to redifine a word to prove a point, but don;t expect others to just jump on that bandwagon. they may well not.

[pikawicca]

+1

[c oliver]

+2

[Harters]

When I first started using Chowhound I read that paragraph and thought it possibly the most pretentious tosh I could recall reading. I havnt changed my mind about that - but I have come to further understand how almost totally inaccurate it is.

[tatamagouche]

I'm still fond of it. The boards aren't what they were 10 years ago, nor was the internet, and I know this is veering off-topic, but I still find the most adventurous, admirably knowledgable, and knowledge-seeking people right here on Chowhound, identifying themselves as Chowhounds. I grudgingly use foodie in contexts where it's the chosen term, but I still prefer to be right here among those who felt the manifesto to be inspiring at a time when there were very few outlets for discovering the Arepa Ladies of the world.

[thew]

no one is arguing with the meat of the manifesto, i don't think. it's the redefining of "foodie" to make a point, that i take exception to.

most self defined foodies i know do NOT just follow along, and happily explore high and and low in search of what's good. In fact most foodies define themselves exactly as what leff defines a chowhound as.

[tatamagouche]

No, I hear you. I don't like the term myself but I've come to accept your point, which is why I now interchange it with "chowhound" in my extra-Chowhound activities. Whatever those are.

[Foureyes137]

I have a problem with this term as there was already a perfectly good word for what most people mean by "foodie" to begin with:

Gourmand.

[c oliver]

My definition of "gourmand" is someone who may not be all that discriminating, loving ALL food.

[jfood]

you need to add "eat in excess".

[c oliver]

I was trying to be polite.

[jfood]

B+ on the draft, please correct for the final

[watercress]

Ditto ditto "cooked to perfection". Ditto "gourmet", whether on a label or not. Also "touch of...", as in some sauce or other (I'm talking lousy places in the 'burbs) having a "touch of butter" (when you know it's some version of a beurre blanc). Why not just say "ton of butter" instead?

[queencru]

I don't have any problem with homemade. So many places just reheat frozen foods or use prepackaged condiments that it's nice to know when something is made in-house.

[goodhealthgourmet]

this one is a semantics issue for me. "homemade" implies that it was made in someone's "home." "house-made" doesn't bother me because a restaurant is often referred to as the house.

silly, i know :)

[jfood]

it is not homemade but made on-premises, or in-house works for me.

[Monica]

I agree about homemade..if I wanted homemade, I'd stay home and eat my food..when i am eating outside, i want something better than homemade.

[tzurriz]

My husband and I just had a nosh after we put the kids to bed, and no, it isn't a naughty thing. With two toddlers, we don't have the energy for anything more than a nosh these days. ;)

[goodhealthgourmet]

anyone with a screen name like tzurriz is allowed to say nosh ;)

[glowworm]

I agree with a lot of these but have never thought of "nosh" as pretentious. I use nosh for things like snacking on peanut butter and crackers or eating potato chips. Usually if I'm noshing it is on very unpretentious food. True I could use the verb "snack" but nosh, if anything, sounds more laid back to me. Maybe it's just regional differences (although ethnicity could certainly make a difference but I'm not Jewish so that wouldn't really explain much in my case).

[Jay]

"Nice" and "balance" --- as in "nice balance of saltiness and sweetness" ... "crunchy and softness" etc.

[ipsedixit]

"locally harvested" .... Huh? Can something be harvested in location where it was not grown?

"cooked to perfection" ... As opposed to what? Cooked to imperfection?

"falling off the bone" (to describe bbq ribs) ... Umm, when did this become a good thing?

[Frosty Melon]

Interesting. These all seem reasonable (even desirable) to me, except for anything "to perfection" since perfection is subjective. Perfection to you is hardly guaranteed perfection to me.

[jfood]

i have been given a lot of hamburgers and salmon that have been cooked to imprefection

[Tonality666]

Or "locally sourced" ingredients. How about just "local ingredients?"

[MelMM]

"Sourced" in general is starting to wear on me. Especially when used by home cooks.

[mariacarmen]

none of those descriptive words about how your food tastes (yummy, delish, nom, etc.) bug me at all. "Flavor profile" makes me want to strangle you and your mother.

[mamachef]

That, and "mouthfeel."

[mariacarmen]

ooh i've used that.

[paulj]

Do you have an alternative term for that aspect of taste?

[mamachef]

No, I didn't really think about alternative phraseology. But I think "texture" would work in most cases. There are two foods that I can think of (and this is just my opinion) that have mouthfeel, and that's if you eat too many canned black olives or too much cheap chocolate, and then the mouthfeel is.....waxy. Otherwise, texture works for me.

[paulj]

Body (as in beer or rich stock) is another quality you feel with the whole mouth.

The Wiki article for mouthfeel lists 20 qualities. Some are textures. Some have to do with the food's rheology.

Should we use 'tactile sensation' instead?

Here's a mouth-feel wheel as developed by Australian wine researchers
http://www.winepros.com.au/pdf/mouthfeel.pdf
http://www.gourmet.com/winespiritsbee...

[Jay F]

Oh, I love "mouthfeel." I say it often.

[sunsuze]

Oh - "mouthfeel" - really makes me think of something entirely different than food.

[c oliver]

Oh, boy, I can't go along with you on "mouthfeel." There are just foods that require that for me. A couple of weeks ago we had lamb shanks and risotto. Both "mouthfeel" kinda dishes for me.

[bushwickgirl]

I admit to being guilty of using flavor profile, much more often than I actually mean to. I'll try to stop, promise.

"Gourmet" on a food label, irks me to no end. "Not gourmet," now there's a label designation I'd like to see...

Not a phrase, but how about those candy "fun pacs" - tiny boxes of mints or M 'n Ms or jelly beans or whatever; what's so fun about a tiny box of candy?

[mariacarmen]

BWG, you have carte blanche to say anything you want!

[mamachef]

BWG, that's so funny. My Mr. asked me once, "wouldn't fun-size be an ENORMOUS candy bar rather than a teaser?"
And I have used "flavor profile" myself, to my eternal shame.

[bushwickgirl]

Haha, it was mrbushy who brought up the no-fun fun pacs, and he agrees completely with your Mr. (as do I.)

[Jay F]

I know someone who tells me "Oh, you're _such_ a gourmet" as an insult. Her idea of cooking is to put a piece of meat in a frying pan, then turn the heat up all the way, until the meat is well-done -- charred, really -- and the smoke alarm would go off if she hadn't disconnected it. OMG, the way this stinks up the house.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i actually don't mind flavor profile when it's used in an analytical way (for example, when developing a menu or dish), as opposed to when some tool uses it when describing the [abomination] they enjoyed for dinner at the Olive Garden last night because they think it will increase their "foodie" cred (~cringe~).

i find mouthfeel useful because there's really nothing else to replace it when used *properly*...i.e. not just as a pretentious substitute for "texture."

but i assume this means that if a person described something as "toothsome" it would make both of you want to stab them with a fork...? because THAT one i can agree on ;)

[guilty]

I agree that "flavor profile" is a horrible, horrible thing to say.

[Jay F]

"'Flavor profile' makes me want to strangle you and your mother."

This one irritates me, too. I don't even want to know what those who use it think it means.

[small h]

It's the way flavor looks from the side. Isn't it?

[Jay F]

There you go.

[observor]

what's wrong with flavor profile? It's the complete embodiment of the flavor, not just the 'flavor". the flavor of something might be spicy, but the flavor profile would take into account all other aspects of that...type of intensity, notes in the background, etc...

[tatamagouche]

Agreed. There are places for it.

[cookingasshole]

courgette and aubergine

I also have a distaste for the phrase "flavor pairings."

[paulj]

What's wrong with those? They are a normal part of British English.

[GraydonCarter]

< courgette and aubergine

...when spoken by an American with the goal of sounding sophisticated but coming out pretentious.

[paulj]

Can you give examples of people who do that (other than personal friends)?

[lavaca]

I've experienced this at a restaurant before - the American waitress at a Spanish-French restaurant here in Seattle pronounced every single Spanish or French word using its original language's pronunciation. It doesn't seem so silly until you consider that almost all of the French or Spanish culinary terms she used already have standard English pronunciations.

[observor]

what seems rather silly is a restaurant being both Spanish and French.

[tatamagouche]

Why? Suppose the chef is half-Spanish half-French, raised in Barcelona and Paris.

My comment for this thread in general: everything in context.

[lavaca]

Yes, in fact. He grew up in the Loire Valley, lived in Andalucia for many years, and now runs a restaurant in Seattle serving dishes from both countries (the restaurant happens to have a Russian mural on the walls, but that's another story).

[Harters]

Ah, I could flip that to include Britons who use American food words. Possibly intending to sound "cool" and "international" but coming across as tossers.

Examples tend to be TV cooks on British shows (but where they clearly have an eye to marketing the show across the pond)

[tatamagouche]

As an American, I would really like to adopt "tossers," but by your logic I'll probably sound like I'm trying to be extra-Brit cool. Too bad, b/c it's a great word! Wankers too, of course.

[smartie]

lucky me, a Brit living in the USA so I can say words from both sides of the pond without sounding like a tosser or a fake yank! Although my pronunciation of croissant or pain au chocolat always gets confused looks in America.

[Harters]

I always reckon that Yanks who say "wanker" have been watching too much Brit TV :-)

But then, when I visit the US, I always try really really hard to pronounce tom-AY-to. 'Tis much harder, if not impossible, to refer to an "eggplant"

[mariacarmen]

and Brits say brekkie, don't they?

[Lizard]

@ GraydonCarter: Any time someone says something with the goal of sounding sophisticated, it's going to sound pretentious.

But there are other reasons, as people are suggesting here. Goodness knows I have a hard time swapping out languages immediately when I do my usual moving around-- or rather, it takes effort to switch to American English when I'm visiting.

I'm perhaps also sensitive to this because French was my first language, and after moving to the states, and growing up to sound quite American, I would still be teased quite nastily by those who decided my French pronounciations (of those French words that end up in English) were 'pretentious' or 'weird'. I then went through great effort to Americanise my pronounciations to avoid this grief.

And now to really bring this back:

I truly dislike the phrase 'wash it down' when speaking of having an accompanying drink with one's meal. Is the food really such a nightmare that one must find a means of force to press it down one's gullet?
It just paints such an ugly picture.

[tatamagouche]

Agreed—which is, again, why I like it (wash it down).

It's not a question of not liking the food—it's that I am a bit of slob, my meals tend to be a bit of a mess, and those uglier, clunkier words and phrases sort of fit my experience thereof. :)

[iL Divo]

I'll bring it up again, cloying or cloyingly.
Somewhere along the way, maybe even recently, it had to be Websters word of the day. I don't know if it's been around forever and I missed it somehow, it's the new annoying irratatingly overused word regarding food these days. Am I the only one that hears it over and over again?

[Whats_For_Dinner]

When I see the phrases "chef-inspired" and "bakery-style bun" in fast-food ads, I very much want to tear my hair out. What does that even MEAN? Bakery-STYLE?

I have about a million more pet-peeve terms from "real" restaurants... they'll come to me.

[barryg]

I'm so sick of hearing about food that is "studded" with this or that, as in "creamy rice pudding studded with raisins." A close runner up is food that is "flecked" with some kind of garnish.

And this is a weird one, but I can't stand the word "patty," like as used for a hamburger. Maybe it's because when the burger craze hit, everyone kept talking about each other's hand formed patties; it drove me nuts hearing that word over and over again.

[c oliver]

I'm quickly trying to think of a substitute for patty but it's eluding me. ???

[linguafood]

as a translator who specializes in food, i would LOVE another term.... burger doesn't get at it, cause the patty is just the meat.

anyone?

[paulj]

"the patty is just the meat." - unless you are Jamaican

[goodhealthgourmet]

"burger doesn't get at it, cause the patty is just the meat"
~~~~~~~~
i'm pretty sure we had an entire thread dedicated to this issue, but for many of us (including me), a burger *is* just the meat...particularly in the case of beef.

[linguafood]

hmm. perhaps i'll stick with burger. the german "boulette" or "frikadelle" is just the patty, tho usually has bread & onion added in.

i guess if i read "burger" somewhere, i'd expect it to be the whole thing - buns, toppings, et al.

[observor]

slab?

[goodhealthgourmet]

to me, slab implies a solid piece as opposed to ground meat that has been formed into a shape.

[GraydonCarter]

... as is the case with Salisbury Steak.

[CathleenH]

"Studded". That's exactly what I thought of. You beat me to posting it.

[cookie monster]

Sammie. Sandwich is a perfectly good word that also has two syllables and is only 2 letters longer. Delish - same concept. Rezzy. I guess the theme here is neologisms that don't actually add anything new.

And I'm with you on "piping hot" especially.

[mamachef]

I have to plead "guilty" on the useage of sammies. I actually never used it until I saw a comedian do a shtick about pulling up to a fast food restaurant and being asked, what kind of sammidge do you want? and she pulled up to the window and said, thank you for the sammidge, amfinny.

[virtualguthrie]

Sammie, agreed. It just sounds dumb to me.

[jmckee]

Dumb. Childish. Fey. Can't stand it.

Also not crazy about "resto" for "restaurant". Even less crazy about "reco for a resto." Just stupid.

[c oliver]

I write "rec" cause it's short but I don't say it.

[woodleyparkhound]

I second "resto" for "restaurant". That really bugs me.

[mariacarmen]

that's what the French say for restaurant. so, i like it.

[small h]

Sammie, resy, brekkie, yummy. Ugh. Any word that people older than three ought not to use.

[Frosty Melon]

Thank you. Brekky is the worst, followed by rez or rezzy or anything of the kind. NO MORE BABY TALK.

[small h]

I can't prove it, but I believe that it's mostly women who use these terms. And there's something about a grown woman acting like an infant that I find very off-putting. It makes the rest of us grown women look bad. Maybe I think about this too much.

[tatamagouche]

Actually, I first heard both brekkie and rezzy from guys.

[small h]

Appreciate the intel. I will add that to my knowledge base.

[tatamagouche]

Ha. Yes, PLEASE MAKE A NOTE OF IT. Very important.

[bushwickgirl]

"Brekkie" or "Brekkers' is a commonly used term in the British Isles for the first meal of the day, breaking the involuntary fast of sleep, said by both hungry male and female breakfast seekers.

Brekkers sounds somewhat better than brekkie to my ear, not "quite" as silly.

[Harters]

"Brekkie" is, indeed, a commonly used abbreviation in the UK. It is, of course as Bushwickg suggests, silly.

And we often abbreviate names ending them with "ers", as a casual, blokey sort of nickname - see name of this poster, by way of perfect example.

[jmcarthur8]

DH is a bald 63 year old New Yorker who says brekky. If I look at him funny, he stops.

[small h]

More evidence that I am wrong! I cannot recall ever hearing a guy say brekkie. Probably because I give off an "I will look at you funny" vibe.

[lavaca]

In other English-speaking countries (especially Australia), it's common to abbreviate words that way, hence 'telly', 'footy', and so on. In Strine, McDonald's becomes something like 'Macca's'.

That being said, Americans definitely seem to do this out of a desire to sound cute when writing rather than a desire to economize one's syllables when speaking. Oh well.

[linguafood]

rez is baby talk? who woulda thunk.

waaaaaaahhhh.

(oops, better change my diaper)

[lavaca]

Shh, don't tell the hospitality industry.

[MelMM]

Could not agree more on the baby-talk. Hate it. Saying "sammie" doesn't even save one a syllable over "sandwich". What's really bad is that it is starting to appear on menus, and I refuse to say it.

[aching]

Overuse of the phrases "going to be" and "a little" by servers has been bugging me lately. As in, "Our special tonight is going to be a little house-made duck confit with a little lemon zest. That's going to be served with a little balsamic reduction over a little polenta that's going to be whipped with a nice little gorgonzola."

[goodhealthgourmet]

sit me down in front of standard Food Network programming for a few minutes and i'm sure i could come up with a looong list...of course the majority of them would come from 30-Minute Meals.

but some others that come to mind:
- nummy, nom, or any variation thereof
- "cooked to perfection"
- foam
- scrummy
- natural (as a selling point)
- "tasting" when used as a verb applied to the actual food, like when an obnoxious server asks you "How's everything tasting?"

oh, and LOL @Jello-ing :)

[mamachef]

How's everything tasting? For real a server asked you that?
I'm trying to think of a humorous reply: "Well, why don't you ask the food?"
But that would give me away as a closet beeeeyatch.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"For real a server asked you that?"
~~~~~~~~~~
it's actually disturbingly common...

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22how...

[observor]

"How's everything tasting" ... you could bite him on the arm and say "It tastes like crap!"

[thew]

the word "foam" bothers you? what's wrong with the word foam?

[goodhealthgourmet]

it only bothers me when it applies to food. most of the time culinary foam resembles saliva much too closely to be even remotely appetizing...so when i hear "foam" in relation to a dish, it makes me thing someone spit on it.

[thew]

but it isn;t the terminology that's at fault, it's your feelings about foam. that's a different discussion, no?

[goodhealthgourmet]

it's the image the terminology conjures up for me...which could be said about many of the words mentioned here by others, such as crusty or chunky...

[linguafood]

reminds me of the person on another thread who thought the words 'squirt', 'creamy' and 'goodness' should never be used related to food.

transfer much? '-P

[c oliver]

Esp. that first one. I'm NOT 3 y.o. any more.

[skaboy]

E.V.O.O.

[mamachef]

Oh hell yes, skaboy. Forgot that one. Good call. I'm assuming you mean when someone says that (not RR, or anyone specific : ) as a word, not the initials? Irritating isn't the word.

[skaboy]

Oh, it's the initials and the R.R. saying them that irritate so profoundly! :)

[thew]

whats worse is she says it to save time, and then says the full name as well - it's always "EVOO - extra virgin olive oil." If youre going to say the latter part anyway, whats the point in the abbreviation in the 1st place?

[Jay F]

I save even more time. I call it EE-voo (two syllables rather than four). And I've been doing it for thirty years. However, I don't have a national platform, so no one knows I say it this way.

I also prefer the two-syllable-instead-of-four pronunciation of ASAP. It's more ASAP this way.

[c oliver]

I've started using "oo" cause I really don't use anything that isn't "ev."

[Jay F]

oo. I guess I could o that oo.

[Chemicalkinetics]

I read that some people refuse to use this acronym.

[skaboy]

I refuse.

[FoodChic]

Throw "sammies" and "stoup" in to that pile. She loves to promote anything symbolizing teenage vernacular.

[c oliver]

+1

[tatamagouche]

Stoup? Is that supposed to be a cross between a stew and a soup, as though stew weren't already a type of soup? That's just stoupid.

[ediblover]

My first reaction to E.V.O.O. - "Just say olive oil! Extra Virgin is the only one that serious cooks use anyway!" I can't think of any recipe or suggestion that brings up the other lower-grade or chemically treated type.

[observor]

that's not true, some people don't want to use their expensive EVOO in certain applications

[ZenSojourner]

The dough calculator on pizzamaking.com actually specifically states that Extra Virgin olive oil is NOT recommended for making pizza dough.

I've no idea why. They're very . . . precise . . . about their pizza dough recipes over there. Down to the hundredths of a gram ! O.o

The calculator:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/dough_calc...

[EWSflash]

Dollop bugs me, it wouldn't so much but fot the stupid Daisy sour cream TV ad

Any noun that somebody has turned into a verb. aka has "verbized"

[mamachef]

I know, right? "Mamachef can't come to the phone right now, she's "Jello-ing."

[EWSflash]

LOL- I need to either Jello or sushi, or both...

[paulj]

Hammer, hammered? (though to be picky, 'hammered' is usually used as an adjective. English is rather liberal when it comes to using nouns as verbs.

[mamachef]

I agree completely with that, paulj. There are places where verbinating : ) is appropriate. It's when it's applied too liberally to subjects that really don't lend themselves or gain anything in the translation.

[EWSflash]

I was just talking about food terms y'all, come on!

[thew]

as a poet, anthimeria (using one part of speech as another), is one of my primary tools.

[DCMack]

Isn't "verbized" a noun turned into a verb? :)