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May 25, 2012
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May 17, 2012
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The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
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The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
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The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
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The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
March 31, 2005
/ 20 Adar II, 5765
Gourmet and gourmand; using lay for lie; source of ritzy
By
Editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Dear Editor:
The words gourmet and gourmand clearly have a lot in common. What's the historical relationship between the two?
T.T., Mastic, N.Y.
Dear T.T.:
Although similar in both appearance and meaning, gourmet and gourmand have dissimilar histories. Both are French in origin, but aside from that similarity, their lineages are distinct. Gourmet, which most commonly is used to refer to a connoisseur of food and drink, traces back to the Middle French gromet, meaning boy servant or vintner's assistant. The French word later came to be used to refer to a connoisseur of wine, and by the time gourmet appeared in English in the early 1800s, it had the meaning we most commonly give it today.
Gourmand made its appearance on the English scene long before gourmet did. The term was borrowed from the French in the 15th century as a synonym for glutton. (The ultimate origin of French gourmand is not known.) Over the centuries gourmand lost some of its harsher connotations, and by the 19th century it had developed a connoisseur sense of its own, not unlike the meaning of gourmet. Gourmand has retained, however, its suggestion of a hearty appetite. It typically now describes a person who likes fine food and plenty of it.
Dear Editor:
I know that there are issues about the incorrect use of lay for lie. Can you explain the controversy and describe the correct use?
M.P., Providence, R.I.
Dear M.P.:
The correct use of lay is one of the most popular subjects in the canons of English usage. In its approved uses, it is a transitive verb - that is, it takes a direct object, as in Now I lay me down to sleep and Be careful when you lay the book on the table. At issue is its intransitive use to mean lie, as in I need to lay down for a little while and The book was laying on the table. The standard form of these examples would be I need to lie down for a little while and The book was lying on the table.
There is evidence of lay being used intransitively for lie going back to the 14th century. No one seems to have worried about it until around 1770, but attempts to correct it have been a fixture of schoolbooks ever since. Generations of teachers and critics have succeeded in taming most literary and learned writing, but intransitive lay persists in familiar speech and is a bit more common in general prose than one might suspect.
The confusing similarity of the principal parts of the two words is to blame for much of the problem. The past tense of lie is lay and the past participle is lain. The past and past participle forms of lay are both laid.
Some commentators are ready to abandon the distinction between lie and lay, suggesting that lay is on the rise socially. But if it does rise to respectability, it is sure to do so slowly: many people have invested effort in learning to keep lie and lay distinct.
Dear Editor:
Where did the word ritzy come from?
D.B., San Francisco
Dear D.B.:
Ritzy comes from the Ritz hotels, named for their founder, Cesar Ritz. Cesar Ritz opened the first Ritz hotels in London and Paris in 1905. He had built his reputation in the luxury hotel business with positions in fashionable European hotels and resorts where he cultivated connections with the old money of Europe and served as a guide and mentor to the nouveaux riches of America. After managing the new Savoy Hotel in London, Ritz opened his own luxury hotels, and his son carried on the tradition by opening Ritz hotels around the world.
The fame of the hotels quickly made the Ritz a well-known symbol of opulence. F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922 titled one of his stories about the Jazz Age The Diamond as Big as the Ritz. Even today, people will disparage their own humble residences with comparisons to the Ritz. To put on the ritz came to mean to indulge in ostentatious display, the meaning that Irving Berlin celebrated in his 1929 musical tribute to glitz, Puttin' on the Ritz.
The derivative adjective ritzy was first recorded in 1920. For some, it is synonymous with luxurious, opulent, and elegant. For others, it suggests fashionable, exclusive, and classy. The extravagant luxury of the Ritz Hotels moves others to equate ritzy with ostentatious, showy, flashy, and glitzy. When applied to persons, ritzy tends to equal pretentious, snobbish, and snooty.
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