Silly poll: thematic difference between "crisp" and "crispy". Any?

[Ogre]

Inspired by my toddler asking me for a cracker tonight: I couldn't decide which was the more appropriate adjective to teach him under the circumstance.

So, are they utterly synonymous, or is there a shade of difference in their meanings?

[Miller]

I would describe fresh celery as crisp, but not crispy.

I would describe fried chicken as crispy, but not crisp.

But I don't know why.

[TriPolar]

Crispy is crispier than crisp.

[Miller]

And if something is less crispy than crisp, is it crispish?

[heathen earthling]

The difference may also involve moisture.

[TriPolar]

And if something is less crispy than crisp, is it crispish?

No, it's soggy.

[Maggie the Ocelot]

"Crispy" is, I think, usually used to refer to things that have been fried.

Lettuce is crisp; potato chips are crispy. Unless you're in England, in which case potato chips are potato crisps. But we're not talking about those weirdos.

[Ogre]

So would the aforementioned (baked) cracker be crisp or crispy?

What about something like a water cracker, which is crisp(i)er than the already crisp(y) other cracker?

[Terr]

Delivery of a joke can be crisp. But it cannot be crispy.

[heathen earthling]

I don't normally think of baked crackers as being crisp or crispy.

[Becky2844]

I really wanted to pick "I like bananas," but I didn't.
TriPolar is right. Also, a fall day can be crisp, but can it be crispy (er)?
(Have you ever said a word so much that it no longer sounds like a real word? *have decided to just chase my tail for awhile and lay down* Oops! I know, Twicksy, that should be "lie." lol)

[Ogre]

I don't normally think of baked crackers as being crisp or crispy.
So what are they?

[6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast]

A thing can be burnt to a crisp; and being sunburned referred to as being "burnt and crispy" - and that's not the only example I can think of where 'crisp' and 'crispy' are synonymous.

I have a friend whose surname is Crisp, and she's been Crispy all her life.

ETA this does not reflect my vote, and 'though I do like bananas I voted the other one.

[chiroptera]

Crisp tends to be cold or cool, crispy warm to hot?
When used as adjectives.
Usually.
I like bananas.

[panache45]

"Crisp" often has to do with natural things and their freshness. Crisp lettuce is fresher than non-crisp lettuce.

"Crispy" often has to do with the result of a process, like potato chips or fried chicken.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Crispy would crumble when you break it (cracker, crust of fried chicken).

Crisp would snap cleanly when you break it (celery, iceberg lettuce wedge).

Definitely can be interchangeable, though.

[Mangetout]

Partly overlapping. But it's difficult to nail down exactly why. I might describe a November morning, or a green apple as crisp, but never crispy.

I think there are probably more cases where something crispy can also be called crisp than crisp things that can also be called crispy.

[cjepson]

I would just like to point out that John Lennon made use of the subtle difference between these two words on the first Beatles Christmas Record, when he sang the following:

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the slow ray round around
Deep and crisp and crispy

[SecondJudith]

To me "crispy" means oil or another kind of fat, basically. Roast potatoes are crispy. Autumn mornings are crisp.

[Sternvogel]

Agree with the "crisp can refer to weather, or a reply, as well as food. However, crispy is exclusively for food" sentiment.

I wonder how colored our opinions are by the fact that when Kentucky Fried Chicken came up with an option to the Colonel's original recipe, the company opted to call the new dish "Extra Crispy" as opposed to "Extra Crisp".

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

I voted "other":

Crispy strikes me as inferring less than complete or true crispness. I'm also not 100% sure it's a real word that wasn't originally used in some kind of marketing context.

For a long time, McD's used to advertise "chocolatey chip cookies", which always made me wonder if the cookies contained even a milligram of actual chocolate. This has probably influenced my personal definition of crispy.

[Farmer Jane]

Apple crisp has a crispy topping. If you put crisp apples in it, it tastes better. "Crisp" implies something that can be described as sharp, tailored, crunchy. It's almost like a feeling.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

I'm also not 100% sure it's a real word that wasn't originally used in some kind of marketing context.



I stand corrected: crispy is attested as early as 1378, although in reference to the texture of one's hair.


1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) v. xv. 121 By grete heete the heer of the berd and of the heed ben cryspy and curlyd.

[Rachellelogram]

Without reading others' opinions in the thread first, my feeling is that the words are different. "Crispy" things are brittle and crunch because you're cooked them--like potato chips or fried chicken. "Crisp" things crunch when you eat them because they are fresh and juicy, though--like an apple or a piece of celery.

You could say a cracker is crispy. But it's not crisp. I don't know why, but this distinction feels right.

[Farmer Jane]

Apples are crisp and crispy. A crisp morning happens in many parts of the US, provided it is not too dark or cloudy.

[Alan Smithee]

As an experiment, I typed "crackers are crisp" and "crackers are crispy" into Google (with the quotation marks). The results were interesting. Crackers are crisp was the more popular phrase, garnering 268 hits to crackers are crispy's 185. (This was after paging to the end of the listings, ignoring Google's usual randomly generated lies claiming thousands or even millions of hits.)

More significant, though, was how the phrases seemed to be used. While I didn't tally them, my impression was that Crackers are crispy was more likely to be used in two contexts: descriptions of cheese-flavored crackers (which supports the association with oil and fat) and in directions in recipes (such as "bake until or crackers are crispy", which supports the association with processing). Crackers are crisp however, was more frequently found embedded in declarative sentences: "Cream crackers are crisp dry biscuits which are eaten with cheese," "Sesame Crackers are crisp rectangles sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and a light garlic spice," and "The crackers are crisp and mild in flavor and taste great with a spread or dip."

So if you have a greasy cracker, or one that you just pulled out of the oven, it's crispy, but if it's dry and came from your pantry, it's probably crisp.

[BigT]

My definition: Crisp just means it will break easily. Crispy means it will break into tiny pieces.

Upon reading the thread, this covers both the cooked versus raw distinction, as cooked foods are more likely to be somewhat brittle, and it covers the level of crisp(i)ness. It may even touch the cooked in fats part, as that may just be the most common way to make something crispy.

BTW, brittle would be reserved for either non-foods or food that breaks apart even more easily than crispy food, to the point where it's hard to eat without breaking.

[Bootis]

The phrases "stays crispy in milk", and "stays crisp in milk" both sound ok to my ears, and imply the exact same meaning, though the crispy one is much more commonly used. Despite this, I would always use crispy, not crisp, to describe cereal. (Though I wouldn't bat an eye if I heard someone say his cereal was crisp.)

Where it really becomes interesting is when crisp is used as a noun. Crisps are most certainly crispy. But according to the consensus here, people would have to agree that crisps are not crisp! :eek: