A question from a friend.
How do Americans describe people who take over-large portions at social gatherings, if they do not have the word ‘gannet’?
The internet tells me its UK slang. I’ve never heard it and I’m in the US.
A glutton or a pig.
I have never heard it either (southeastern PA if that matters).
In Yiddish, it would be a “khazer.”
Rude, mostly. I recall many years ago being at a military gathering where one man’s wife picked up the chip bowl and carried it around with her, munching away and let the crumbs fall where they may.
I only know Gannett as a media & publishing company.
There was an entire episode of Seinfeld about George trying to think of a reponse after getting made fun of taking an overly generous helping of shrimp. In it, we are introduced to the term jerkstore but George’s overindulgent behavior is left unnamed. A show about nothing, indeed!
This was on of my dad’s favorite terms to describe us kids. I always assumed it was describing kids demanding food from their parents, “Daaadddd! I’m hunnnnnngry!!!” (when you just goddamned ate two bloody minutes ago and refused to eat half your bloody food), in the manner of a gannet chick, rather than over-large portions generally.
Curb Your Enthusiasm gave us “vulture” as a term for someone who immediately descends upon a tray of hors d’oeuvres.
I just read this in my bubbie’s accent.
Probably “chowhound”.
a person who eats large quantities of food or is fond of eating; glutton or gourmand
Vulture applies to anyone overly opportunistic or taking unfair advantage of the weak.
Chowhound, to me, suggests more curiousity than excess. They seek new and interesting foods. See also rockhound and powderhound (snowsports).
It’s a quirk of English that “pig” means someone who “eats like a horse” (= copiously), but not necessarily someone who “eats like a pig” (= impolitely).
A chow hound, to me, is someone who takes too much interest in food, to the exclusion of participating in the party.
“Wide-back behavior” is a popular term these days.
Or greedy. Greedy-guts for extra nastiness.
I’ve never heard “gannet”. I thought that was a bird? – yes, it is a bird. Maybe it’s a bird that eats a lot.
Oh yeah, I know that one too.
Chowhound to me suggests nothing but careless gluttony. Consume massed quantities of whatever not bothering to taste it. And probably making a mess while doing so. Like the way a dog eats.
Or a contestant in a hot dog eating contest. That to me is the archetype of a chowhound.
So the polar opposite of someone who cares about new and interesting food.
I don’t know which of us is correct, or maybe we both are. Such are the perils of slang.
I would understand that usage, too.
Using it to mean
Would confuse me.
Well, I posted the definition I found on a dictionary site, so there’s that.
Cool. Nothing about your post suggested that the bit you indented was sourced from anything but your own mind. So I thought that’s where you got it from.
Sorry.