# Over-large portions = Gannet **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 4, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447 "2024-03-04T17:02:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/21 "2024-03-04T21:03:08Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > too much interest in food > [@LSLGuy](#): > > nothing but careless gluttony So not just another word for foodie. I’m glad we’re discussing it since I didn’t realize it’s not a compliment. I guess it’s one of those terms I read about people describing themselves but not others. Hypothetical me, before today, loudly admiring the party host’s spice cabinet: “Wow, I didn’t know Sally is such a chowhound.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/22 "2024-03-04T21:12:46Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > How do Americans describe people who take over-large portions at social gatherings They are **hogging** the food. They are hogs. ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/23 "2024-03-04T21:26:21Z")
I’ve watched a lot of British TV and I’ve never come across that word. I’m a midwestern 'mercan. I guess “pig” comes to mind. ---
**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:** [March 4, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/24 "2024-03-04T21:53:17Z")
**Frank Grimes:** He eats like a pig! **Lenny:** I don’t know. Pigs tend to chew. I’d say he eats more like a duck. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/25 "2024-03-04T22:01:33Z")
I have never heard this word in any of its senses until earlier today in the Spelling Bee thread. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/26 "2024-03-04T22:47:18Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@bob\_2](#): > > > > How do Americans describe people who take over-large portions at social gatherings > > They are **hogging** the food. They are hogs. This, definitely this. Different from pigs, who are just messy, hogs (may not in real life do this) eat more than their share. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/27 "2024-03-04T22:51:07Z")
That pic up there does the bird in question zero justice. Since they can dive into the ocean, beak-first, at 60 MPH: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D8vaFl6J87s/hqdefault.jpg "Gannets Plunge into the Sea") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8vaFl6J87s) ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/28 "2024-03-04T22:55:12Z")
So for those who already had the word in their native vocabulary, can you describe the etymology, the connotations? What is a gannet originally and how did it come to mean a person who takes more than their share? I expect like most new words, I’ll start hearing this one everywhere every day (Fawlty Towers, The Crown, AbFab, etc. etc.) so I want to be ready for it. eta: my guess is it’s pronounced “GANN-it”, right? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/29 "2024-03-04T22:55:17Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > That pic up there does the bird in question zero justice. This is what the term comes from: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Close-up_of_gannet_feeding_chick.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Close-up_of_gannet_feeding_chick.jpg) It’s the similarity of kids demanding food from their parents to gannet chicks, at least that’s how my dad used the word. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/30 "2024-03-04T23:13:46Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > They are **hogging** the food. They are hogs. > > This, definitely this. Different from pigs, who are just messy, hogs (may not in real life do this) eat more than their share. This seems the best answer so far. A “pig” is someone who shoves their snout in the trough and chomps everything. A “hog” is described as someone who takes or uses most or all of (something) unfairly or selfishly. “Something” may be food or just about anything that is supposed to be shared. Gannets are large seabirds (two-metre wingspan) and are perceived as greedy eaters ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/31 "2024-03-05T00:02:46Z")
Wait. Is it even possible for Americans to take “over-large” portions of any food? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/32 "2024-03-05T00:02:51Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > too much interest in food > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > nothing but careless gluttony > > So not just another word for foodie. I’m glad we’re discussing it since I didn’t realize it’s not a compliment. I guess it’s one of those terms I read about people describing themselves but not others. > > Hypothetical me, before today, loudly admiring the party host’s spice cabinet: “Wow, I didn’t know Sally is such a chowhound.” My first thought upon see that word was also that it was similar to “foodie.” I feel like I’ve heard it used in some Food Network shows to describe judges or contestants who really take pleasure in eating. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/33 "2024-03-05T00:07:57Z")
I tend to think of “foodie” as someone who’s more toward the gourmet-snob type, marching with the faddish ingredients (Himalayan sea salt, for example), wouldn’t dream of eating ordinary-people food or at any restaurant that doesn’t cost an ordinary person’s weekly wage per plate, and utterly adores restaurants like this: > **[Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever](https://www.everywhereist.com/2021/12/bros-restaurant-lecce-we-eat-at-the-worst-michelin-starred-restaurant-ever/)** > > There is something to be said about a truly disastrous meal, a meal forever indelible in your memory because it’s so uniquely bad, it can only be deemed an achievement. The sort of meal where everyone involved was definitely trying to do something;... I don’t see the glutton/gourmand type this thread is about fitting that. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2024, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/34 "2024-03-05T00:51:49Z")
This discussion reminds me of this: > **[people lose their minds over free food: discuss](https://www.askamanager.org/2023/06/people-lose-their-minds-over-free-food.html)** > > People are weird about free food at work. Really weird. Free food can make some people lose all sense of decorum and manners (and interestingly, the I’ll admit I was a free food vulture back in the pre-pandemic era when we had a lot of catered lunchtime meetings at work, bringing leftovers home with me. I blame being raised by frugal Midwesterners. My mom is the sort of person who, if served complimentary bread at a restaurant, will wrap up any uneaten slices to bring home for later, along with all the butter packets. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/35 "2024-03-05T01:00:45Z")
There was also “bogart” as a verb – “don’t bogart the bowl of chips.” I never understood quite where that came from. Bogart as a gangster? Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/36 "2024-03-05T01:20:56Z")
Whenever I see someone at a buffet (NB: We don’t go go buffets, but we have) who’s loaded up his plate so that the plate of food is bigger than his head, I want to say ‘Dude. You know you can go back, right?’ ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/37 "2024-03-05T01:24:34Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I have never heard this word in any of its senses until earlier today in the Spelling Bee thread. But I just tried in today’s spelling bee and it was not accepted. I never heard of it either. It also didn’t accept gentoo (a kind of penguin). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/38 "2024-03-05T01:29:18Z")
Yes, that’s what the Spelling Bee folks were bitching about. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/39 "2024-03-05T01:43:04Z")
A pig. To be exact, [a P-I-G pig.](https://youtu.be/UdqCGrdyWx4?t=29) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447/40 "2024-03-05T02:57:14Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > There was also “bogart” as a verb – “don’t bogart the bowl of chips.” I never understood quite where that came from. Bogart as a gangster? Maybe. I think Bogart hanging on to a joint instead of passing it, in some movie, though I don’t remember which one. In any case the first context I heard it in was “don’t bogart that joint” in the 1970’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/over-large-portions-gannet/998447.md?page=3)