Garage? Hey, fellas, the garage. Well, ooh la-di-da, Mr. Frenchman.
Snob. We call it “CV” where I’m from.
Of course they do. But it’s silly for someone to proclaim that they “sure as shit” know what crudite is, and then reveal that they came about this knowledge relatively recently. A reasonable person should not assume that everyone is familiar with a French substitution when they themselves came into adulthood not knowing the term. I would only make that assumption around people with a known interest in the culinary arts.
monstro is a woman, and I’m sure she knows that many chefs are men.
So there’s not a separate key for it. That really doesn’t tell you how easy it is to type a é on a Mac.
You can type asci code on any software that recognizes it. é ä è… I can type that all day on my PC. I’m sure there’s a point in there somewhere but my observation stands. the higher hit count is certainly the result of cut and paste by people trying to find out the meaning of the word. People don’t need to know what “vegetable platter” means.
That’d be my guess. I don’t think EVERYONE would know what it was, but I just asked my mother how many people she knows would know what a “crudité” was and she replied 75%. I would say about the same for myself.
At any rate, I wouldn’t consider it a “snobbish” term in the slightest.
Straight off the top of my head: You overreacted a wee touch, because you have history with this coworker rankling you in the past.
You’re not an idiot for being bothered by it. God knows we all have tiny things that bother us randomly, and in some instances the larger pattern of behaviour is the catalyst more so than the actual “offense”
Having said that, though, I would probably just say crudités off the cuff because that’s the way I think. It’s a single-word substitution for what can be a rather unweildy word pairing (vegetable tray), and it just wouldn’t occur to me that other people wouldn’t know what it was.
But as I said, you’ve got history with this woman so you’re more accurately placed to assess whether it was simply her speaking without thinking, or a deliberate attempt to try and show you up.
Around me and those I work and associate with, using the term “cruditè” would get you the same reaction as using the term “a case of the Mondays”.
Thanks to the Straight Dope, I checked, and I have not only THREE colanders, but also a sieve. I didn’t realize I was Upper Class.
I think I learned the word crudités from “Fried Green Tomatoes.” I also learned the term “hot dish” from the Straight Dope (not a good-looking woman - a casserole to bring to a function of some sort).
Monstro just to warn you, you WILL NOT like this advice, but need to hear it: While this woman was not involved in the conversation originally, she was there and offered TO HELP you! You’ve mentioned that you have Ph.D, while the woman who so offended you has only a BA. It seems that you’re the one who’s intimidated but another person! She used a word I’d (and she I assume) someone of your backround would have encountered in life. Heck, I grew up middle-class (only partway through college) in the U.S. and I call them crudite platters. You also said you never expected to be in this position, despite AGREEING to be an “alternate”! :rolleyes: I suggest you gussy up your resume, because this environment (i.e. this group of co-workers) is not right for you.
What now? I am annoyed by one co-worker and that means the whole work place is not right for me? And then people are saying I need to quit the job because it’s “too stressful” for me? Excuse me, ya’ll, but I think ya’ll are underestimating my abilities to handle stuff. Compared to other things I’ve had to deal with in life, organizing an appetizer party with the help of a bunch of other people is as much as a problem as dust motes, really. Just because I don’t know what “crudité” means does not mean I will be an inept floor rep. Just because I don’t particularly WANT to be floor rep doesn’t mean I won’t be fantastic at it (FYI, no one ever wants to be floor rep. The one before me, who’s Ms. Homemaker and loves to cook, didn’t want to be it but allowed herself to be volunteered, just as I was. As I said before, it’s more about organizing and rallying people to help you, not actually cooking anything. And I’m surprisingly good at organizing people even though I’m not a people person. Hence why I have “coordinator” in my job title.)
To restate, being “bothered” does not mean “OMG! I’m about to jump out of a six story window! Kill me now!” Sheesh.
You are either reading way more into my posts than are warranted, and you are the annoying co-worker that I’ve been talking about all this time.
And no, despite my middle-class background down in the Dirty Souf, we did not use the word “crudité” in my household. And my mother threw many a dinner party. We used “vegetable tray”. Really, it’s you that sounds like the snob. Or perhaps reverse-snob. Your post is all of the other place with the invectives.
Well, I’ve always used crudite and wouldn’t even imagine someone thinking I was being a snob for using it. It seems really common to me. I wouldn’t look down on someone who didn’t use it, but it wouldn’t occur to me that it was jargonish. It’s like saying hors d’oerves instead of appetizers. She may well still be a snobbish jerk, but not for that reason. 
I think we should sticky this thread as a cautionary tale: NEVER say yes to something you hope you’ll never have to do. It almost guarantees it’ll end up on your shoulders!
Yeah, this is typical SDMB. Complain about something at work and people will start telling you that you aren’t good enough for the job.
I think what I’m going to do from now on is keep a running list of all the words that I don’t know coming from this individual and look them up when I get home. I can still be annoyed at her, but at least I can learn at the same time.
I don’t care about food in particular, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt for me to be exposed more. I don’t want to be too insular or provincial as I enter middle-age. 
I hadn’t heard crudité until my foodie ex used it. I’ve got a fairly extensive vocab, but I’ve never really been into food. I suppose someone who watches Food Network all the time would think it’s common, though.
ETA Oh right, and this is the first place I’ve ever heard of Galas, too, but maybe that’s regional. I can see how it might be a shorter way to talk about apples. Just saying something like “that salad would be great with some Granny Smith slices in it,” because you’re specifically saying that a sour apple would go well with it.
Seconded!
I have known what crudité mean for ages, but never, ever used in conversation. Because in my head, I pronounced it ‘crud-ites’, and I knew that couldn’t be correct. 
Not if you get it from the grocery store!
That’s just one mistaken assumption on my part. And I feel less an ass than somebody who is totally bent out of shape by not knowing one silly little word. Offered by a ghetto dweller without a PhD, no less.
The question was “am I an idiot for being bothered by this?”
My answer: Yes.
I think we called it a “veggie platter”.
I guess the issue for me is if I use a word that is totally familiar to me, that I would use in common conversation, and don’t realize it falls under someone else’s “fancy word” category I’m being a snob? That’s a lot of pressure to self-edit myself to make sure my choice of vocab isn’t offending others. I don’t think you’re not an idiot for not knowing it, but I’m not a snob for knowing it.
Again, that person may be a jerk and you may have every reason not to like her, but using what is not such an uncommon word casually does not automatically make her a snob.