what would your resulting cut of chicken look like?
What I envisioned:
[spoiler]I wanted strips the length of the breast that were approximately one inch wide, and very approximately one inch thick (which obviously varies depending on the thickness of the breast).
I was making skewers in the Chinese restaurant fashion, only with Indian spices. The long, thick pieces are the key to that look. We were in a rush to get to a party, so I didn’t get to prep my chicken myself - as I was sent on an errand. I got a text asking how I wanted the chicken cut, and had to quickly text back, “Go for strips one inch square”. I will admit some ambiguity in my terminology, but the operative word is STRIPS, no? “Go for,” was me attempting to communicate an allowance for the natural thickness/thinness of the breasts in crappy text shorthand.[/spoiler]
What I got:
Chunks. Roughly 1 x 1. How is that strips!? Fine for kebabs, but I had nothing else for kebabs - little onions, peppers, tomatoes - and no time to get them. Chicken strips were her favorite food for a really long time, by the way.
Like so many small things do, a petty fight blossomed from nowhere, in which I was told that if I wanted them a certain way, I should have just done them myself. Which I had wanted to, and was just about to start – literally knife-in-hand, before I got sent on some B.S. errand! Arrg! The squabble and dearth of logic was *way *more frustrating than the simple cutting error, of course.
If I accidentally was swept back in time to meet myself as a teenager, and my teenage self asked me what marriage was like – clearly probing for stories of endless sex-filled lusty nights – I would tell him about the chicken skewers and the errand.
I do see exactly what you mean. I texted square to communicate one inch wide and one inch tall, and failed. Believe me, I know that was a mistake. I’m curious what the results are from other anyhow though.
You described a three-dimensional shape using a two-dimensional word. Most people, when visualizing a square, see the top of an object. Since there are no real squares in the universe, only very very thin rectangular prisms with square tops, of course the person interpreted your description as asking for rectangular prisms with square tops. The “strip” part appeared to contradict the “square” part; they went with the one with the more precise measurement, no surprise.
If you wanted to communicate this clearly, I agree that you should have asked for 1" wide strips.
The more important issue, IMO, is that you started a fight over this. Are you serious? It’s a goddamn chicken, man. You could just as easily have shrugged, thanked your spouse for cutting the chicken, and modified your plans. The only difference between this approach and the one you took is that this approach strengthens the marriage by not sweating the small stuff.
Yeah, the “square” would have thrown me off too. After all, a chicken breast is at most 1" thick, so I would think you meant you wanted the other 2 dimensions reduced to 1" as well.
Hell, no I didn’t start a fight about this. I expressed my disappointment by saying something like, ah that’s really not what I wanted. These are more like kebabs, but I don’t have the stuff to pull off that presentation, and there’s no time. Well, they’ll still taste the same. From then on, I was a spectator to my own fight - one I didn’t even know I was having. That’s the frustrating part for me. The thing is that I rarely speak seriously about much of anything, so somehow whenever I express the disappointment or speak in a tone that is more serious than my usual happy-go-lucky, I get accused of “yelling and being mean” when there’s no volume, gravel, or cutting remarks in my tone or words. It’s frustrating. It’s as if while I’m typing this to you, you’d ask me to stop singing. “What? I’m typing. To communicate ideas. I’m clearly not singing.”
Yeah, 1" wide is a way better explanation. You’re absolutely right.
If this is how it tends to go, then yeah, I think you did start a fight. You may think that what you said SHOULDN’T have started a fight, but something about how you said it did start one. And given the OP’s tone, it sounds like you were pretty ticked over this. If you don’t want a fight, I really think you should change what you do in similar situations–to do the same thing and expect a different outcome seems weird.
I would have asked you if you meant 1" wide strips or 1" cubes. I’m weird like that. If you had left me a note with that exact verbiage, then I would probably have given you cubes, because of the two conflicting two-dimensional shapes you gave me(strip and square), cubes are more common for recipes. If I knew you were making skewers I would have cut strips, but that’s because I know how to make skewers.
I’m another one who would have given you cubes. the only way your description makes sense is if you wanted the thickness cut down when it was over an inch and that’s way too much work.
I would have given either given you one inch cubes or asked for clarification.
At any rate, you should have communicated the request better (really, your wording on this is terrible) and the other person should have asked for clarification (although I could see the interpretation of you wanting cubes being reasonable.) Ultimately, though, you should have been clearer.
You can report your own posts, and it’s the fastest and most reliable way to get a correction made. I happened to mouseover; otherwise it could have been forever before a mod saw this.
