# Dressing or Stuffing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365 "2013-11-20T18:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/81 "2013-11-26T22:09:52Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Dressing sounds more genteel. It’s like saying restroom instead of toilet. Otherwise, no difference. In the United Kingdom, they call the restroom the loo, and put “WC” on the door. So what do they call dresstuffing? ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/82 "2013-11-26T22:50:04Z")
I call it stuffing, and we do in the bird (wet and gooey) and out of the bird (crunchy and made to hold gravy). Hell - 2/3 of the meal is just for the purpose of conveying gravy to my arteries. I like Rick Bragg’s column on the subject: [http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2013/11/05/fully-dressed/](http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2013/11/05/fully-dressed/) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/83 "2013-11-27T07:20:18Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > “I’m willing to admit I was wrong.” > > -Alton Brown, _Stuff It_, Good Eats Episode #119 > Good enough for me. According to that same episode, “[t]he word _dressing_ was introduced in Victorian England, when the term _stuffing_ was thought to be improper.” It doesn’t say why it was thought to be improper, though. So I don’t know if it seemed factually wrong or was too delicate for their sensibilities. But, still, that means that stuffing was the original name. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/84 "2013-11-27T07:41:35Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > I like Rick Bragg’s column on the subject: > > [Dotdash Meredith - America's Largest Digital & Print Publisher](http://thedailysouth.southernliving.com/2013/11/05/fully-dressed/) Rick Bragg is 100% correct. (Full disclosure: He teaches at the same campus where I work and I’ve met him several times.:)) ---
**Author:** ![Fluke\_Starbucker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3e96dc/32.png) [@Fluke\_Starbucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluke_Starbucker)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/85 "2013-11-27T13:20:28Z")
Dressing. I’m not sure what exactly my wife does with her dressing recipe, but that stuff is so good that it genuinely physically arouses me. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/86 "2013-11-27T14:03:49Z")
> [@Fluke\_Starbucker](#): > > Dressing. I’m not sure what exactly my wife does with her dressing recipe, but that stuff is so good that it genuinely physically arouses me. You should speak to a physician or your clergyman. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/87 "2013-11-27T15:36:13Z")
And the rest of us should speak to his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/88 "2013-11-27T16:50:10Z")
How’s _she_ doin’? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/89 "2013-12-02T14:24:53Z")
Dressing is what you pour on your salad. It’s stuffing all the way. Go Stovetop! ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/90 "2013-12-03T08:18:45Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It’s neither dressing nor stuffing! > > It’s **wadding**! It’s wadding if used to seal in the popcorn! ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365/91 "2013-12-03T08:24:08Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Crazy. Stuffing balls were a big tradition at our table growing up. The final product, if not the exact shape, is the same idea. Yours is the only other family I’ve heard about who does this. Here in Austria they are called Knoedel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dressing-or-stuffing/674365.md?page=4)