Vegetable tray IS NOT MORE COMMON in many parts of the country. In my neck of the woods 'tapas" is much more likely to get a blank stare than crudités. I also had no idea what a “hot dish” was until I was around people from the mid-west and I had never heard of an “au jus” sandwich until I came out west.
I’s not even more “fancy” If someone had said vegetable tray to me I would have groaned and roasted some eggplant, steamed some asparagus, pickled some green beans, etc. If they said crudité I’d have cut up some carrots, zucchinis, and peppers and plunked down some dip.
Our French Dopers will have better info, but in French restaurants I’ve seen “crudités” meaning “raw cut up veggies” (with dip, vinaigrette or neither) and “salade de crudités” which is a salad with no “extras” (no tuna, boiled egg), just veggies and condiment.
Yup, cut up vegetables without extras sound like a good def.
I really dont see what monstro is talking about, crudités is really common here. I can even type it on my keyboard, no problem.
And it’s no fancy restaurant jargon, it’s commonly used at homes. If you started to say “vegetable tray” instead of crudités, most people here would give you a blank stare and wonder what’s wrong with you.
Good idea, I’ll remember that next time I ask for a coffee made with steam, mixed with hot milk, and with foam on top.
I’m starting to see why our country is so fucked up. “Martha, i"m not voting for that guy he uses words like ‘marginal tax rate’ and ‘draconian cuts’ rather than just saying taxes are too damn high”.
Oh, and just to be sure, I’ll make sure to talk down to anyone from the ghetto 'cause there’s no way they’d know them fancy French words.
So now the country is fucked up because people prefer descriptive terms derived from their spoken tongue over foreign terms that they’ve never heard of before?
I get it. The word ain’t all that rare. But a person is not stupid for using “vegetable tray”. It’s not a “dumbing down” of the language. It’s just a different way of saying the same thing (except clearer for those not-in-the-know).
I don’t know that this is an incredibly compelling argument. There are a number of characters in common use in English that are not on the “base” keys of an English keyboard:
All of these were typed on my standard PC keyboard. é is typed with ALT+0233, btw. And any of these can be found on the character map. English as a living language borrows heavily from other languages, including French, just as other languages borrow from English (e.g. other languages’ words for “computer” generally sound very similar to the English word “computer”). I honestly can’t imagine why someone would think using “borrowed” words is snobbish, when it’s so damn common for languages to do so. Résumé is a perfect example. Is anyone going to accuse me of being a snob for saying I send these out with my job applications? And it’s French! Other languages even borrow American slang (OK is incredibly common worldwide).
But, hey. I also think words like foyer and façade and charade are common words.
All that said, it sounds to me like monstro dislikes her co-worker for other reasons, and is using the language thing as an excuse, perhaps because the real reasons seem to her to be “less noble.”
Well, I for one am feeling judged for using it, while I’ve been very careful to say that I don’t judge people who don’t know it or choose to use it. I’ve been told I’m pretentious and a tool for using this word (not by you!). It makes me sad, frankly, that by using a word that seems common to me and is common in my experience, I can be judged so harshly.
It’s not a French word I’m casually tossing in English to sound fancy. It’s a word derived from the French that has made it’s way into our language- like souffle, a la mode, hors d’oerve, entree, apres-ski, etc, and so many other words that we all use casually every day. Cappuccino, biscotti, latte, antipasto, etc…
Neither is using crudités deliberately condescending and snotty, if it’s the first term that comes to mind. I think you’re ascribing mean motives to your coworker because you already dislike her.
Maybe she is pretentious (some of your other stories about her do indicate this), but I don’t think she was trying to lord anything over you in this instance.
No, saying vegetable tray is not stupid. No one in this thread ever said it was. It’s not even remotely stupid not to know crudité. What is somewhat less than smart is thinking that someone who uses a word well know in some circles, and is the word they usually refer to something by, is pretentious.
This woman may be a jerk, but that is not evidence for it. If she start’s dropping ‘deconstructed’ or ‘sous vide’ or ‘molecular gastronomy’ on you then you’ll have a case.
Dude, they are English words. Derived originally from French, yes, but a substantial portion of the English language is derived from Latin and old germanic languages, but no one’s complaining that “table” or “door” aren’t English.
And while actually sighing over Muenster cheese was douchey, color me flabbergasted that anyone who has done their own grocery shopping for more than a couple months hasn’t noticed what the prepackaged Muenster slices look like. It’s a common cheese and a pretty distinctive orange. I would guess that the co-worker was pretty surprised, too.
Neither is a person an elitist snob just because they use “crudité.” It’s not a pretentious use of language.
So, if you’re not stupid for not knowing it – which I certainly agree with – can we also agree that others are not stupid/snotty for knowing it?
What color is “flabbergasted”? I need to find the right crayon.
I don’t buy prepackaged sliced cheese, and I don’t buy Muenster. I’m not sure I’ve even seen it in the regular cheese section of the grocery store here. And I’ve been doing my own grocery shopping for 16 years now.
shrug I have no idea how you can look through the cheese section and not notice the brilliant neon-orange rinded cheese. Perhaps I just buy more cheese than your average bear.
The woman may be a foodie douchebag (aka a “foochebag”), but this is hardly evidence of it. I certainly wouldn’t shy away from using it with anyone who also understands “tapas” or anyone who is interested enough in entertaining to take on this task at work. (I understand that you were thrust into the position, but I don’t know that she would have known that.)
Besides, “crudites” makes me think of a thoughtfully chosen and arranged platter of freshly-cut veggies with an interesting dip or two, while “vegetable tray” implies the plastic precut tray from Kroger with the tub of ranch in the middle. Of course, either word can refer to either item, but if you ask me if I’d rather have “crudites” or a “vegetable tray”, I’d much rather have the crudites.
