Wow - there’s a much higher number of stupid posts in this thread than usual. I won’t bother pointing them out.
Monstro, honestly it sounds like this woman is insecure about herself, education, intelligence , etc. around you - possibly around lots of people. I imagine she’s using $27 words when $2 words will do to try and bolster her confidence, and possibly impress you a touch with her smarts. I imagine she may be doing this because she likes you. (In a friendish way.) I think it’s perfectly OK for you to find her annoying, because she most likely is, but I would maybe hang up your ‘Bothered Hat’ for another day. To me the ‘Bothered Hat’ is best saved for when people are purposely being assy as opposed to just clueless.
In my world, crudite is not common and you aren’t an idiot at all. The lady who said it sounds like a real piece of work. Some who says crudite instead of vegetable tray is a tool.
I really like reading this thread, but I’ll be darned if I’ll post an opinion on it. I might be forced to eat my vegetables. I will say that it seems to my poor reading comprehension, that this co worker might be trying to score points off of your discomfort in the given situation.
Offered Only As An Alternative Not Suggested So Far: You’re now in charge; why not kick up the table? You know you can cook, you know what your strengths are. Play to them.
Or, if you have another job, play with their heads.
"With a change in organizers now comes a change in theme. The June event will now be ‘Arbor Day’. As you admire the trees on the grounds, you will be served fresh Crudités du Arbre, or fresh ground walnuts mixed with soft cream cheese on a green oak leaf. Much thanks goes to coworker Diane Chambers for her thoughtful idea! Enjoy! And remember, “Noix à vous!”
It’s like using the word “venti” as a substitute for large. Starbucks fans will know what this means and will probably see nothing pretentious about its use in casual, everyday conversation. But if you are talking to people who you know are not hip to the coffee shop scene, using “venti” marks you as potentially being assholey.
Whenever you use non-English words as a substitute for much more common English words, you run the risk of alienating your audience.
This idea seems overly broad to me. I can’t use hors d’oerves, antipasto, foyer instead of appetizers, meat platter and entrance way or risk alienating my audience? That seems like reverse snobbery- if the word is not common to you it must be avoided even for people whom it’s part of everyday language? I don’t judge people for not knowing vocab words, why is it ok to judge people for knowing them? I still don’t get it.
My parents barely had any English and we were pretty poor but I’ve used that word since I was a little kid. It’s fine if you don’t know it, but it’s not like I rack my brain for a fancy-schmany word to replace veggie tray. When I see a veggie tray I think crudite.
This is getting silly- monstro’s co-worker could very well be teh snob and jerk she feels she is. I give monstro every benefit of the doubt. But it’s not simply becuase she used cruidite or other not uncommon terms.
Does anyone actually use the word “venti” outside the very specific situation of ordering a drink at Starbucks? I drink a shitload of coffee, go to Starbucks a fair amount, have a lot of friends who do the same, and have never heard this happen. I’m not saying it never does, but it has to be insanely rare.
I really dislike the idea that you should always use a simpler, English-origin term (precious few of those in English, but that’s a different issue) in place of a foreign-origin word. I mean, no, you don’t need to go all Alex Trebek showing off how awesome your l33t vocab is, but sometimes the “foreign” word is the one you want. Why should I say “vegetable tray” when I mean “crudités” just because “crudités” is French in origin?
That said, the co-worker is likely still an annoying douche. But not just because she said “crudités”.
Well, and if you’ll notice, it’s not like the OP hasn’t used a fancy-pantsy foreign word that not everybody would know when there’s a perfectly good English word to say the same thing. She didn’t have to say tapas, she could have said appetizers instead and then everyone would have understood. Let’s throw rocks at her for being such an insecure snob.
What? If it’s pretentious and self-inflating to use a foreign word when there’s a more common English one you could use instead, the specific foreign language you use shouldn’t matter.
Very well put. I know perfectly well what crudités are but I’m savvy enough to say vegetable tray, or sliced vegetables if I’m speaking to someone who I know, from multiple previous conversations, is not that into food or very foodie.
I used to work with a man with a very large brain (also a PhD) who did not own a television. Occasionally in conversation some pop-culture reference would come up. I would make sure to explain the pop-culture reference to him before continuing with the story because I KNEW he would have no idea what I was talking about otherwise. I didn’t do this because I thought he was an idiot, I did this because through previous conversations he had relayed that he had basically no pop-culture knowledge whatsoever, and I wanted him to feel included and not have to stop someone mid sentence to figure out what they were talking about.
If the woman in the OP has had multiple food conversations with Monstro where Monstro has repeatedly said that she’s not a foodie, doesn’t watch cable, doesn’t know a colander from a sieve, and the woman busts out crudités with no explanation offered, particularly when faced with what must have been a confused look on Monstro’s face, she’s either clueless (my vote) or purposely trying to make Monstro feel dumb.
My point is that it would never occur to me that crudite is some special fancy foodie word. It’s a commonplace word to me, like saying hors d’oerve. That’s what I’m trying to say. Her co-worker may not have a lack of “savvy-ness”. For comparasion- it’d be like saying “with ice cream” instead of “a la mode”.
Exactly. As I’ve said, I picked it up in a tiny middle school in a farming community in what many people consider the cultural armpit of the nation. In my mind, that’s pretty goddamn non-fancy.
Ok - it’s not a fancy foodie word TO YOU. Knowing who Oprah Winfrey is isn’t a fancy pop-culture denizen thing to me. Lots of people in this thread have mentioned never having heard crudité before so it’s perhaps fancy and foodie to them, just as Oprah Winfrey was a mystery to my former coworker. Honestly, it appears to be a regional thing.
I think the coworker in the OP could engage in a little code switching when talking to someone who she knows, from repeated conversations, is not a foodie - otherwise she comes across as a bit of a jerk.
“Hors d’oerves” are just as common a term as appetizers. I’m sure if you did a poll, most people would say they knew what hors d’oerves were even when they were young kids. In contrast, it seems that with the exception of few in here, “crudites” is a term that most people come to learn in adulthood, after watching the Food Network or hanging out with foodies.
“Antipasto” is a lot like “crudites”. If you’re talking to people who have expressed cluelessness about all things related to cuisine, you should use terms you’re confident that they will know (like meat platter) rather than borrow a word taken from another language.
This is not complicated. First ask yourself if the word is non-English. Then ask yourself if there are other, more common English words that mean the same thing. Then ask yourself if your audience is likely to understand if you use the foreign substitution. If the likelihood is less than 50%, go with the English word.
People don’t get judged for knowing words, don’t be silly. They do get judged for using words for reasons other than effective communication. I think monstro is bothered by her co-worker because she’s shown a pattern of doing this.
I’m not trying to be difficult, but we’re talking past each other. I get the scenario. I read her posts. My point is that it wouldn’t be a word I would think to tone down even to a person who is not a foodie- like a la mode or hors d’oerve. I would use those words even with a self-described non-foodie. In my experience it’s that common.
I wouldn’t use sous-vide, or bain marie, tapas, gele, veloute- all words I would use commonly with people who were into cooking. So I get the idea.
I DO NOT blame monstro for not knowing it- I’m merely suggesting that he co-worker may not have been a douche for using it, even with a non foodie.
Like I said, I think this is getting a bit silly. Never in a million years would it have occurred to me that someone would think using crudites in casual conversation, even with a non-foodie, stretches all the way to pretentious.
I wouldn’t worry about her motives one way or the other. You know you’re not stupid. I consider myself an intelligent person but grew up poor and there are plenty of terms I’m just not familiar with. I’m not embarrassed by saying “I’m not familiar with that” even when it surprises some people, because it just doesn’t matter.
However, if you used hors d’oerve or souffle (for instance) and the person you were speaking to stared at you blankly, would you really make them ASK what it was or would you just offer up an explanation?
What if you’d had the same conversation with them 5 times regarding different food items and they ALWAYS stared at you blankly?
At some point do you not think you would pick up on their lack of food knowledge and be ready to jump in with an explanation if they seemed confused?
