Re: linguistic "flavours" (was Re: Missing Words)

In a message dated 3/21/02 11.47.56 PM, bob.greenwade@NEWMAIL.NET writes:

>At 02:49 PM 3/19/02 +0100, Christian Thalmann wrote:
>>American English is ketchup.  Very tasty and popular, but intolerant of
>>any other flavor.
>
>    And it absorbs nearly *anything.*  :-]
    _ketchup_ - from Chinese dialect * _koe-chiap_ for vinegary fish sauce,
some varieties of this sauce had tomato paste as well.
                                        * prob'ly southern Chinese

    American English, to me, is like California Noveau Cuisine - "melting
pot/tossed salad cuisine" - as done by a Midwesterner.
    In another words, all the pungent, intense, spicy multi-ethnic culinary
authenticity is sacrificed to the blander, carbo-heavy/red-meat-eating tastes
and lower spice-tolerance levels of the (stereo)typical "meat-&-potatoes"
Midwestern palate and eating habits. (California Noveau Cuisine is bad enough
of a bastardization... but at least it's more health-conscious - at times,
vegetarian and vegan! - than some "authentic" foods. Hehe!, American culture
at its very best is more of a "tossed salad" than "melting pot.")

    I think this metaphor can be read on many levels - not just linguistic!

semi-vegetarian Hanuman Zhang  {HANoomaan JAHng} /'hanuma~n  dZa'hN/
~§~
Sometimes the difference between noise and music is all in your head
~§~
    _NADA BRAHMA_= < from Sanskrit > "sound is god[head]"/"god[head] is sound"
anavriti shabdat => "Liberation by sound."
"I like the fact that listen is an anagram of silent." ~ Alfred Brendel
    OM ... Om Tat Sat... Tat Tvam Asi... OM

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