"language" news and stories

Do you identify as a pescatarian, or maybe a flexitarian (or is it flexatarian)? Do you say rocket or arugula? Sunchoke or Jerusalem artichoke? How do you pronounce pecan? Are you more likely to give a man a fish, or teach him to fish--and who came up with that saying, anyway? All these may qualify as future topics of a fabulous new bi-weekly blog column on cookthink.com called "Minced Words," penned by Merriam-Webster lexicographer and bar proprietress Emily Brewster.

The subject? The language of food, something right up my alley (in fact, i wish I'd thought of it first). So far, Ms. Brewster has investigated the roots of political pork expressions like "pork barrel spending" and "high on the hog," questioned her own bar-restaurant's use of "carpaccio" for a dish without meat or fish (a pear dish, in this case), and waxed poetic on the subject of celestial-themed food terms like "ambrosia" and "angel food cake."

Ms. Brewster, a sort of William Safire of the food realm, has plenty of material to work with. The carpaccio bit interested me most so far--restaurant menus are notoriously loose in their terminology. Terrine, torte, deconstructed this, essence of that. What's your food terminology pet peeve?

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I have a layperson's interest in all things linguistics. One grad level linguistics class under my belt and I like to pretend I am on par with Noam Chomsky. (Not really.) But I am fascinated with all aspects of language from accents to regional dialects. I've noticed in my travels that some people in the United States "fix" dinner and some people "make" dinner. (Or, if you are my mom, you "cook" dinner.) I've noticed that the "fixers" are generally from the Midwest or South, and the "makers" are from the coasts.

I "make" dinner.  My friend "fixes" it.  "Fix" has always sounded strange to me, as if the meal is broken and needs careful attention with special tools and gadgets. How about you? Are you a "maker" or a "fixer"? Or do you simply "order out"?