# It doesn't sell! Let's call it something else! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [January 22, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624 "2023-01-22T21:34:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/61 "2023-01-23T23:49:14Z")
Tri-tip is taking off in the Midwest, especially for people who like to smoke meats. Picanha steaks are also taking off in my area. They’re cut in such a way that a thick fat layer covers it in the shape of the letter C. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/62 "2023-01-23T23:51:53Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@california\_jobcase](#): > > > > I have a 25 year-old GoldStar microwave, and it still works perfectly. I guess that’s only one data point, however. > > I had a Gold Star microwave oven. It only lasted 18 years. ☹ I’m pretty sure my sister still has the GoldStar microwave she bought in college, 20-something years ago. Or at least she did the last time I visited. Which isn’t bad for something she selected mainly because it was the cheapest one the store had. The memorable thing about it was a poorly translated warning label that referred to it as a “mica-wave”. Come to think of it, it’s kind of surprising that Samsung managed to completely turn their reputation around without changing their name. I remember when Samsung electronics’ main selling point was that they were cheaper than other brands. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/63 "2023-01-24T03:19:25Z")
No one would want to eat Squat Lobsters, a kind of crab, but put them on the Red Lobster menu as _langostino lobster_ and you’ve got something. > **[Langostino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langostino?wprov=sfla1)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Langostino is a Spanish word with different meanings in different areas. In the United States, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat of the squat lobster, which is neither a true lobster nor a prawn. Squat lobsters are more closely related to porcelain and hermit crabs. Crustaceans labeled as langostino are no more than 8 cm (3 in) long, and weigh no more than 200 g (7 oz). Langostinos are not langoustes (spiny lobsters... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/64 "2023-01-24T03:24:16Z")
That is correct. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/65 "2023-01-24T18:34:13Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > There’s the recent trend of “diet” soft drinks being rebranded as “zero sugar”. Apparently part of the reason for that is that some men won’t buy anything labeled “diet” because they consider them to be for women. IMO that’s not quite right. The mainstream soda companies have had diet sodas sweetened with first saccharine and later aspartame for decades. And many people who drink that stuff enjoy the very distinctive way those sweeteners taste. Those buyers _want_ that distinctly different, IMO highly chemical / artificial, taste. Starting a few years ago, some genius at IIRC Coca Cola figured out how to make a sugarless low-cal soda that tasted almost identical to the regular sugary kind. But what to call it? “Diet Coke” was already taken. Pepsi quickly followed suit but what to call it? “Diet Pepsi” was already taken. They did not want to destroy the sales of the existing diet-tasting sodas. They settled on “zero sugar” as the category name. Meaning it tastes _almost_ like the sugarful version but doesn’t have any. Coke Zero and Pepsi Max are examples of zero sugar sodas. As a diabetic who despises the flavors of artificial sweeteners, I find these products close enough to the real thing, but with negligible blood sugar consequences, to be a really neat invention. At least for this category of buyer, it has nothing to do with calorie reduction, and everything to do with sugar reduction. With ~35 million diabetics in the USA, that’s a good-sized market. Many of whom aren’t all that interested in managing their weight, though maybe they should be. Me, I’m skinny. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/66 "2023-01-24T20:51:35Z")
Does anyone use “Pre-owned” for anything other than (used) cars? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/67 "2023-01-24T21:00:00Z")
Meanwhile, the cereal industry stopped using a certain word and never looked back: > **[6 cereals from our childhood that got rid of the word 'sugar'](https://www.metv.com/stories/6-cereals-from-our-childhood-that-got-rid-of-the-word-sugar)** > > You can take the sugar out of the name, but you can't take it out of the cereal. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/68 "2023-01-24T21:15:51Z")
Frosted Chocolate Krusty Flakes – Only sugar has more sugar! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/69 "2023-01-24T21:27:00Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > IIRC that’s how tri-tip (A cut of meat that’s still not very well known outside of California) came to be. Most butchers would just grind up that triangular shaped piece of meat from the bottom of the sirloin for hamburger. Then one butcher in the 1950s decided to try putting a spice rub on it and roasting it, and it proved popular. A tri-tip is stupid expensive here in Arkansas and considerably cheaper in California. I can only find tri-tip at one of our smaller grocery chains, but I love it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/70 "2023-01-24T21:39:52Z")
“Vintage”? It’s used. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/71 "2023-01-24T21:54:52Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Does anyone use “Pre-owned” for anything other than (used) cars? One of my biggest pet peeves. Makes me think of pre-chewed food. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/72 "2023-01-24T23:07:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > “Vintage”? It’s used. “Classic” as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/73 "2023-01-24T23:32:00Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Just want to say, I “sold” things to my kids using this technique: > > “I don’t like gravy.” > “Oh, that’s OK, this isn’t gravy, this is sauce.” Yeah, I know somebody who as a child would never have consented to taste icky disgusting Brussels sprouts, but avidly consumed her mother’s delicious “baby cabbages”. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Prunes seem to have become mostly “dried plums” over the last decade or two. Technically, AIUI, the varieties of plum that are usually marketed as “dried plums” (large, round, often red-skinned, clingstone, Japanese origin, dried in cut halves) are different from the ones generally made into “prunes” (small, oval, dark-skinned, freestone, European origin, dried as whole fruits): [Prunes and prune plum varieties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prune) [Prunes and other dried plums](https://nuts.com/driedfruit/plums/) > [@CairoCarol](#): > > And haven’t coypu been renamed “nutria” in hopes of creating a market for their meat? Not recently, at any rate. Nutria fur was well known under that name at least as early as the 1930s. In fact, AFAICT, the original name most routinely used for this rodent in English-speaking North America beginning in the 19th century was “nutria”, from the Spanish name for otter. Spanish speakers prefer “coypu” so as not to confuse the rodent with the otter. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/74 "2023-01-24T23:54:37Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > > [@CairoCarol](#): > > > > And haven’t coypu been renamed “nutria” in hopes of creating a market for their meat? Not that it’s been a successful strategy. > > As I said to myself when I first heard the word _nutria_: “That should not be the name of an animal. It should be the name of an artificial sweetener.” I know where they got it from: Nutria is the Spanish word for [otter](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutrinae). They are cute, I don’t want to eat them. ETA: > [@Kimstu](#): > > Spanish speakers prefer “coypu” so as not to confuse the rodent with the otter. That has me confused as a Spanish speaker, I guess you refer to South American Spanish. I have never heard the word _coypu_ in Spain, I have no idea what it is. But I know what a capibara is, in case that is it. The biggest extant rodent. Much bigger than rabbits (those I do eat!). Will check on the net, just writing this down before the edit window closes. ETA 2: Oh! They look like beavers and have been introduced in Germany and in Spain (but not in the parts I know). Mhhh… not sure I want to eat them. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/75 "2023-01-25T00:07:06Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > > [@Toxgoddess](#): > > > > Just want to say, I “sold” things to my kids using this technique: > > > > “I don’t like gravy.” > > “Oh, that’s OK, this isn’t gravy, this is sauce.” > > Yeah, I know somebody who as a child would never have consented to taste icky disgusting Brussels sprouts, but avidly consumed her mother’s delicious “baby cabbages”. Me as a kid: This is burnt! My mom: No it’s not! That’s seasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/76 "2023-01-25T00:15:15Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Just want to say, I “sold” things to my kids using this technique: > > “I don’t like gravy.” > “Oh, that’s OK, this isn’t gravy, this is sauce.” My parents told me everything was ‘beef’, or I wouldn’t eat it. Same for gravy. It had to be beef gravy or I wouldn’t eat it, so she told me every gravy was ‘beef’ gravy. My kid brain just didn’t catch on that we couldn’t be having beef gravy with our chicken. I don’t think I caught on to it until I was in middle school, when she tried to pass off oysters as ‘beef’. I was shocked at the enormity of the lie. My sister was still teasing me about that when she was on her death bed. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/77 "2023-01-25T01:51:50Z")
In the Pennsylvania state medical marijuana program cannabis strains are renamed in an attempt to make them medically legitimate sounding. I’m currently medicating with “Durban” which used to be called “Durban Poison” but poison is not cool for a medicine name. Likewise, “Green Crack” is rebranded “Green Kush”. Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/78 "2023-01-25T02:12:18Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’m currently medicating with “Durban” which used to be called “Durban Poison” but poison is not cool for a medicine name. > > Likewise, “Green Crack” is rebranded “Green Kush”. Cheers! [Aside] I’ve often said that I’d love to get the job naming strains. My favorite one was a cross of California Dream and Trainwreck: they called it Lindsay Lohan. [/Aside] ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/79 "2023-01-25T02:19:43Z")
“Rustic,” for when you’re too lazy to finely chop your vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624/80 "2023-01-25T02:23:12Z")
Or when a chef on “Cutthroat Kitchen” has been sabotaged to hell and back and forlornly tries to sell their attempted dish as “deconstructed”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-doesnt-sell-lets-call-it-something-else/978624.md?page=5)