Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
How pig became pork and cow became beef
Merriam Webster gladly weighs in
The names for the meat — beef, pork, venison, mutton, and poultry — are derived from Old French.
Dear Matthew Alice: Why do we call cow meat “beef" and pig meat “pork" but call chicken and fish by their names? — Steve Gersh, Black’s Beach
I don’t believe Steve lives there. I suspect that’s just where he was when the question occurred to him. No explanation needed, I think. Actually, none wanted.
This one’s a skate, mostly because I can do no better than to quote from language researcher Brett Palmer of the Merriam Webster company, who tackled this poser with relish. Or perhaps a little steak sauce.
“The names of the animals you mention — cow, pig, deer, as well as sheep and chicken — all have their roots in Old English, the variety of English spoken after about the Sixth Century iq what is today England. The names for the meat of these animals — beef, pork, venison, mutton, and poultry — are all derived from the Old French, the language of the Norman conquerors of England.
“The Norman invasion of 1066 and the subsequent rule of England by the Norman aristocracy left an indelible mark on the language we speak, and this question touches on one facet of that mark. The animals on a Lord’s estate were tended by serfs — in this case, Anglo-Saxons. Their name for the animals persisted in use. The Anglo-Saxon servants and serfs, however, rarely were able to enjoy the end product of their care, the meat being reserved for the noble’s table. Consequently, when the animal was butchered for meat, it was called by a name chosen by the person who owned that meat — after 1066, invariably the name was of French origin. Gradually the Normans were assimilated into the body of the English, and their vocabulary was assimilated also.
“ ‘Fish’ too comes from Anglo-Saxon, but unlike the larger farmed (or hunted) animals, fish of some kind was available to nearly all throughout history and formed an important part of medieval man’s diet. Although I am guessing, perhaps that is why the ‘fish’ you catch is also the ‘fish’ you eat.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
How pig became pork and cow became beef
Merriam Webster gladly weighs in
How pig became pork and cow became beef
Merriam Webster gladly weighs in
The names for the meat — beef, pork, venison, mutton, and poultry — are derived from Old French.
Dear Matthew Alice: Why do we call cow meat “beef" and pig meat “pork" but call chicken and fish by their names? — Steve Gersh, Black’s Beach
I don’t believe Steve lives there. I suspect that’s just where he was when the question occurred to him. No explanation needed, I think. Actually, none wanted.
This one’s a skate, mostly because I can do no better than to quote from language researcher Brett Palmer of the Merriam Webster company, who tackled this poser with relish. Or perhaps a little steak sauce.
“The names of the animals you mention — cow, pig, deer, as well as sheep and chicken — all have their roots in Old English, the variety of English spoken after about the Sixth Century iq what is today England. The names for the meat of these animals — beef, pork, venison, mutton, and poultry — are all derived from the Old French, the language of the Norman conquerors of England.
“The Norman invasion of 1066 and the subsequent rule of England by the Norman aristocracy left an indelible mark on the language we speak, and this question touches on one facet of that mark. The animals on a Lord’s estate were tended by serfs — in this case, Anglo-Saxons. Their name for the animals persisted in use. The Anglo-Saxon servants and serfs, however, rarely were able to enjoy the end product of their care, the meat being reserved for the noble’s table. Consequently, when the animal was butchered for meat, it was called by a name chosen by the person who owned that meat — after 1066, invariably the name was of French origin. Gradually the Normans were assimilated into the body of the English, and their vocabulary was assimilated also.
“ ‘Fish’ too comes from Anglo-Saxon, but unlike the larger farmed (or hunted) animals, fish of some kind was available to nearly all throughout history and formed an important part of medieval man’s diet. Although I am guessing, perhaps that is why the ‘fish’ you catch is also the ‘fish’ you eat.”
Comments