Words That Embarrass Me

bI’ve been really easily irritated this week. It just doesn’t take much to get me worked up about things that really aren’t a big deal, like words that make me cringe.

My guess is that we all have words we don’t like to say, and that many of us share an aversion to the same words, like fanny, pantyhose and slacks. Am I right?

Of course there are words for foods that really get on my nerves, like home fries. That word and concept emerged out of the blue and onto the breakast plate sometime maybe in the early 90’s, replacing the perfectly respectable hash brown. They aren’t bad, they just aren’t as good as hash browns. And since they’re only served in restaurants, they’re inaccurately named. If I order a breakfast and home fries are one of the options I can choose from, I avoid saying the word and say that I’ll have the potatoes.

Then there are smoothies. Saying that word out loud makes me feel gross. It’s a sleazy word, when you think about it. Additionally, smoothies are guilty of being part of a food trend, though the trend has fortunately already seen its peak.

A food trend still going strong is the panini craze. I saw an ad for a panini sandwich the other day that made me crazy. Panini means sandwich! Panini sandwich is redundant. And panini isn’t even the right word, unless you are referring to more than one. We should really call a panini a panino. But why can’t we just call it a grilled sandwich? We aren’t in Italy and the ingredients in them are rarely classically Italian.




Judgments_,Bon Appetit_