am working on a little more food based piece that is not ready for publication yet, so maybe time to let off a little pressure
I am not sure what makes me do this, but somehow I seem to take up
causes that I probably have no chance of making any real change. Kind of like my DFD campaign, I don’t really
notice any decrease in ball caps in nice restaurants, but at least maybe I can
elevate awareness that might over time have some effect.
Lately we have been enjoying watching the women’s NCAA softball
world series, it is fairly low key and fun to watch. As seems to be common practice these days, all the network
folk covering a woman's sport have to be women. So time after time, somebody like ESPN's Holly Rowe
(for whom I somehow have developed an undefined dislike) sticks a microphone in the
coach/manager’s face grins, and says something like:
“your fielding isn’t up to the season’s average, how are you guys going to correct that?”; last
time I checked I really didn’t see any men on their team. Or to a player: “this is a must win game for you guys, how does that that affect the way you guys approach the game?”. Nobody
seems surprised, and apparently not one of the ladies minds being referred to
as a “guy”. I just keep thinking about
the opposite case. NBA playoff game,
announcer talking to Kevin Garnett: “how
are you gals going to stop Lebron tonight?”
that would be ludicrous (not to mention hazardous to interviewer) but the other way is accepted. Not sure why.
And while I won’t change it, maybe I can attune your ear
such that when you hear it, you’ll take notice and in some situations say
something. “Excuse me, my wife doesn’t
like to be called a guy”. And you know
what? It is VERY hard not to fall into
that usage yourself. Try it
sometime. “You all”; “anybody”; “anyone”
work fine. “Can I get you
all/anybody/anyone something else?” Or,
just stop at “you”. “may I get you …. Dessert
menus?”. Shouldn’t be hard.
The Y word
Another overused word I have come to hate recently is the use
of the word “Yummy” in conjunction with food.
It appears almost daily in facebook entries. Recently I saw a picture of some
hard crabs and a beer, to which somebody commented: “Yummy!”. I can see pre-adolescents using the word to
describe “S’mores”, or maybe toasted marshmallows around a girl scout campfire,
but hard crabs? I guess it gets back to
having respect for the food. Is it just
me? Sautéed duck breast (ducks must be on my
mind!) with merlot reduction, grilled asparagus and creamy polenta – Yummy?? I think not. It is too much hard work to put something delicious
on your plate only to demean it by squealing “yummy” is just wrong. It is insulting. It’s just
too damn cutesy to go with serious food. Stop it! The use of the word tells me the person has
no clue about food. Everything they put
in their mouth is “yummy”. Go away. Grow up.
and while you're at it
DFD
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