By Erika Hoffman<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Facebook, I saw a post that read: Remember when charcuterie boards were called meat and cheese trays or snack trays? Or hors-d\u2019oeuvres trays?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Below the picture and the question, a gal named Karen commented: \u201cWhen I heard that word for the first time, I thought they were referring to something dirty! I think it\u2019s one of those made-up words someone came up with to confuse us older people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I laughed aloud reading that, but then again, I know French, I know what \u201ccharcuterie\u201d means, and I know that folks like to use French words to \u201cgussy up\u201d menus and catering offerings. Even the word \u201chorse d’oeuvres\u201d is just a fancy French word for appetizer. And as if that is not enough, now, at wedding receptions and the like, they serve us little \u201cpre-hors d\u2019oeuvres,\u201d which they call \u201camuse bouches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French words sound sophisticated. Doesn\u2019t \u201ccharcuterie\u201d sound better than a tray of pig products? And isn\u2019t hors-d\u2019oeuvres more sophisticated than its translation \u201coutside of the works\u201d and \u201camuse bouche\u201d sounds better than \u201cmouth pleaser?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s always this way with our language. Our common English words have Germanic roots, so \u201cMann\u201d becomes \u201cman,\u201d \u201cHaus\u201d becomes \u201chouse,\u201d and \u201cMutter\u201d becomes \u201cmother.\u201d On the other hand, our more sophisticated words usually have origins in the Romantic languages derived from Latin roots. So, the French word for house, \u201cMaison,\u201d turns into our \u201cmansion.\u201d And their word for \u201clittle\u201d becomes our \u201cpetite,\u201d and their word \u2018big\u201d becomes our word \u201cgrand.\u201d \u201cValise\u201d sounds better than suitcase. And who wouldn\u2019t pay big bucks for an \u201carmoire.\u201d Not so much for a wooden clothes closet!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, the \u201cfancy like Applebee\u2019s on date night\u201d sometimes backfires when you use foreign words. The French word for shower is \u201cdouche.\u201d And the word for \u201cladies\u201d is \u201cDames.\u201d And overweight in French becomes \u201cgrosse.\u201d A \u201ccul-de-sac\u201d literally is the bottom of the bag. A \u201crendezvous\u201d sounds romantic, but it can be an appointment in French, like a dental exam!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonetheless, Mardi Gras sounds more festive than Fat Tuesday, and I\u2019d rather swallow \u201cescargots\u201d than snails; \u201cfoie gras\u201d is much more appealing than \u201cliver.\u201d Remember, if you see \u201cCheval\u201d as the plat de jour, avoid it. (You don\u2019t want to eat Trigger!) \u201cPotpourri\u201d we\u2019d pay good money for, but not so much if it\u2019s just a jar of dead flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a reason the Beatles interspersed French in their love songs like Mon Cher Amour<\/em>. Do you recall Patti LaBelle\u2019s Lady Marmalade\u2019s<\/em> famous lyric: \u201cVoulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?\u201d It rhymes and seems more romantic than its English translation: Shack up with me tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being complimented as \u201cthe cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me\u201d sounds a lot posher than being designated as Top Dog or King of the Hill. Be careful, too, when you guess the meaning of French words. You might deduce that the verb \u201ccrapoter\u201d has to do with the \u201ctoilette,\u201d but you\u2019d be wrong. \u201cCrapoter\u201d means to smoke without inhaling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, when you hear \u201ccharcuterie board,\u201d don\u2019t translate\u2014because if you do, you\u2019ll realize it\u2019s just a plate of sliced pork from the pig butcher\u2019s shop. It\u2019s like sausage making. No one wants to see that done. Just eat that delicious Polish hot dog from Costco smothered with mustard and forget how it\u2019s made. The same goes for thin slices of salami, prosciutto, and bologna. Without translation, enjoy the charcuterie board this Thanksgiving. Bon Appetit!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Erika Hoffman On Facebook, I saw a post that read: Remember when charcuterie boards were called meat and cheese trays or snack trays? Or hors-d\u2019oeuvres trays? Below the picture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22180,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_gspb_post_css":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"essay_type":[46],"essay-category":[],"class_list":["post-22179","essay","type-essay","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","essay_type-features"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/22179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/essay"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay\/22179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"essay_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay_type?post=22179"},{"taxonomy":"essay-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/essay-category?post=22179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}