22 replies to this topic

[taikara]

So, the other day, it rather randomly came to me (as some things do) that it was very strange that a kitchen tool used to make mashed potatoes and baby food is called a ricer.

It doesn't make rice... what comes out really doesn't look like rice (as it looks like mashed potatoes or baby food)... and you don't use rice in it...

So why is it called a ricer?

Feel free to wager a guess, or post about something else you find peculiar here  

[TheVoid]

The English Language

Have you ever wondered why foreigners have trouble with the English Language?

Let's face it
English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth
If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.

If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all)

That is why
When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this observation,
It ends.

  

[Doc Adrian]

Void has got some very good points...but

to answer your question my Chef friend wanted me to tell you that Ricing is a cooking term to make food to the constitancy of rice.  So Ricing just borrows the name, kind of like dicing.

[LordHart]

Alot of nothing in that thingy of yours...

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No ham in the hamburger

I don't know where the hell you are from, but hamburgers in Australia are usually made from Ham. Therefore, that is why they are HAMburgers... you know, meat from pigs. Otherwise, we use the term burger on whatever the main meat or whatever the main ingredient is on it. Therefore, chicken on a burger becomes, a Chickenburger. Same with a cheeseburger, which gets it name usually because of the amount of cheese on it and little other ingredients.

Quote

Quicksand takes you down slowly

Quicksand takes you down quick. The quicksand in movies is *bovine droppings*, and is only used so that the hero/protagonist won't die, and someone can save them. Ever seen 'The Princess Bride'? Remember the scene in the Fire Swamp when Buttercup sinks into the sand at an alarming rate? THAT is quicksand.

Quote

Boxing rings are square

Boxing rings were not always square. Originally, boxing refered to the term of boxing in when fights started between two people. Its like what happens at school when you yell out fight, and everyone runs over to box the two fighters in... in essence, they become boxers. You could essentially use this term to talk about any sport where there is a large crowd close into the action... football, wrestling, tennis, etc.

Quote

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.

Because that is stupid, and it isn't only English that does this. Every language does.

Quote

If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth

No.

Quote

If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.

Because a teacher, teaches... a preacher, preaches... a boxer, boxes... a gambler, gambles... and so on...

Quote

If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?

Food. And also... a vegetarian eats fruit as well. And if they aren't too picky, they'll also eat fish, and eggs... and a few other things that aren't vegetables. Also, vegetarians don't use the term vegetarian.. they use the term, vegan.

Quote

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down

This usually is because it burns up, as in flames... it burns down because the remains of a house, burn down to the ground. It is more in line with slang, because when talking about something that has been burnt down, you say it has been razed...

Quote

And a bell is only heard once it goes!

So? A whistle is only heard once it goes. Any sound is only heard when it has happened... or are you so advanced that you hear sounds before they have even been made?

[Tom Henrik]

First of all, the above is not written by TheVoid at all, but the comedian at the end of 60 Minutes - The NewsShow.

Second of all, anyone can see that the above is meant to be humorous, you have no reason to jump for his throat like that.

Keep your tongue in check, LordHart.

[A. J. Raffles]

LordHart, on Jun 17 2005, 02:28 PM, said:

Quote

Quicksand takes you down slowly

Quicksand takes you down quick. The quicksand in movies is *bovine droppings*, and is only used so that the hero/protagonist won't die, and someone can save them. Ever seen 'The Princess Bride'? Remember the scene in the Fire Swamp when Buttercup sinks into the sand at an alarming rate? THAT is quicksand.

I don't want to start an argument or anything, but what makes you think 'The Princess Bride' is a reliable source?

[taikara]

Doc Adrian, on Jun 16 2005, 11:17 PM, said:

to answer your question my Chef friend wanted me to tell you that Ricing is a cooking term to make food to the constitancy of rice.  So Ricing just borrows the name, kind of like dicing.

Thanks, Doc!   (sorry, just wanted to say that hehe)

Still, I have to say that what comes out is NOT like rice!! It's like mashed potatoes!! Very different consistencies.

But, maybe when it was named, people used to cook rice til it was mushy *shrug*

@Void: I thought it was rather amusing

[A. J. Raffles]

Concerning the quicksand: as far as I know, the 'quick' bit has nothing to do with the modern meaning of the word, but is derived from the old meaning 'alive' (as in 'the quick and the dead'). So quicksand isn't quick sand but live sand.

[Stroggy]

this is rapidly spinning off topic.

[TheVoid]

As Tom Henrik already said, that wasn't written by me, and was not meant to be taken seriously (and the majority of people here didn't).

However, Lord Hart, have a look here:
"By the middle of the 19th century people in the port city of Hamburg, Germany, enjoyed a form of pounded beef called Hamburg steak. The large numbers of Germans who migrated to North America during this time probably brought the dish and its name along with them. The entrée may have appeared on an American menu as early as 1836, although the first recorded use of Hamburg steak is not found until 1884. The variant form hamburger steak, using the German adjective Hamburger meaning ?from Hamburg,? first appears in a Walla Walla, Washington, newspaper in 1889. By 1902 we find the first description of a Hamburg steak close to our conception of the hamburger, namely a recipe calling for ground beef mixed with onion and pepper. By then the hamburger was on its way, to be followed?much later?by the shortened form burger, used in forming cheeseburger and the names of other variations on the basic burger, as well as on its own."
This is the proper definition of "hamburger". The suffix -burger came later than the word.

And quicksand is not as dangerous as depicted in many movies. Because quicksand is denser than the human body, a person will usually float in it. The biggest danger comes from flailing the arms and legs, which literally "digs" that person deeper and can cause him or her to drown. Definitely quicksand is not quick.

But as Scar pointed out, this is going a bit off topic, so I have a little question that English natives may answer:
"Why do potatoes become "chips" or "french fries" when fried, and not "fried potatoes" or something like that?"

[A. J. Raffles]

Aren't fried potatoes something else entirely?

[a1s]

TheVoid, on Jun 18 2005, 11:02 AM, said:

"Why do potatoes become "chips" or "french fries" when fried, and not "fried potatoes" or something like that?"

the potatoes are not fried (I'm not familiar with the correct term, but they are put in boiling oil, yuck!) to become 'chips', in fact where I live we have corn chips made by the same technology (I have no Idea where they get their corn, considering I live in easetn europe around 60th longitude).

P.S. when I last checked 'Vegans' refered to aliens from Vega .

[Doc Adrian]

A. J. Raffles, on Jun 17 2005, 06:42 PM, said:

Concerning the quicksand: as far as I know, the 'quick' bit has nothing to do with the modern meaning of the word, but is derived from the old meaning 'alive' (as in 'the quick and the dead'). So quicksand isn't quick sand but live sand.

like Nestle's Chocolate Quick?  

Not sure about the fried potato thing

[Havell]

That English language thing posted by TheVoid mostly refers to problems in American, not English.  [i]English{/i] English it perfect in it's logic

[LordHart]

I know he didn't write it. I was pointing out the inconsistences from what he did post though, which to people unfamiliar to the text may think he came up with it, since he didn't provide any credit. Also, when trying to back up things you've posted, it's best not to copy it word for word from another site and make out it is your own. Especially one such as Wikipedia which anyone can add to.

Now, Quicksand. It's best not to try to explain it to someone who grew up at the beach and has encountered it before. If you step into some quicksand and you aren't tall enough to touch the bottom, where the sand or whatever is below is more solid, then you'll usually go under very fast. True, in some cases, if the sand is not sufficiently watered down, then it can be more like falling in a vat of semi-solid mud or something, but that isn't what generally happens.

And I didn't say that the Princess Bride is a reliable source. I was pointing out that it is in effect, quite accurate. That is dry quicksand though, which is rarer in nature than that of regular quicksand formed by water.

Although the term hamburger comes from Hamburg, it generally today is associated with burgers which contain some form of ham on them (just any form of pork), which is what I said. It even says it at Wikipedia where you got the info that it has normally become just 'burger' when talking about a sandwich with meat in it, not hamburger.

By the way, the fried potato thing. I generally make chips out of cut up potatoes... not whole ones. I've never come across anybody who fries potatoes whole.