Re: CHAT Re: Souvlaki (was most looked-up words)

Steg Belsky inter alii wrote:

(snip my description of gyros meat/döner etc etc.)
> That's... that's... that's SHAWARMA!
I'll remember that if I ever visit Israel.


>> It may be
> > that [souvlaki] too can be served in a pita with condiments; I don't
> > recall.
>
> Hey, it's not in the pita unless it's actually *inside* the pita! :-P
> ;-)
>
That may depend on the quality of the pita; some are more easily
split-openable than others-- speaking only of the pita one can buy in the
average US supermarket (the ones I buy purport to be made by a Lebanese
bakery).

General comment/speculation: the confusion gyros/döner vs. souvlaki seems to
have arisen in Europe, perhaps even in Greece. Perhaps, if the döner idea is
originally Turkish (I note that the word was glossed "drehen" = turn =
gyros??), there is a certain European Greek reluctance to admit that, or to
use their term for it. I don't know. However, suffice to say there are a lot
more Turks in Western Europe than in the US, plus many Greeks in W.Europe
(and Australia, I suspect)are of much more recent vintage than those in the
US; conceivably therefore Greek/Turkish tensions are more vividly felt.

Most Greek-Americans by now are 1st generation or later; their immigrant
forebears are long gone. (My friend's father died at ±100 in the l980s.)
They certainly have no fondness for the Turks, but few have ever actually
encountered one..........