tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post607202035532750338..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: The Pomodoro CaperStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-14931270810185889012017-07-13T06:09:18.592-07:002017-07-13T06:09:18.592-07:00Your point is well taken. The French can certainly...Your point is well taken. The French can certainly be snobby... though they are as likely to judge you by accent than by ability to read the menu. For my part I think that one would be happier on this earth if one did not know what rognons de veau en creme were and if one did not have to suffer the indignity of having to eat them. I still don't see why the woman could not have asked. True enough, social class is endemic to human society and classes have certain signals that are recognized-- they signal belonging or not. BTW, what are the odds that people brought up in a certain social class would not know the difference between a burrito and a taco. And would feel proud of it.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-60017405290062287312017-07-12T18:59:53.871-07:002017-07-12T18:59:53.871-07:00I think you are wrong. I lived in France for 5 yea...I think you are wrong. I lived in France for 5 years too. If you were foreign, nobody thought anything of explaining what "andouille" was. But if you were French it would be a marker of what sort of person you were. So I don't think your (or my) experience in France were significant. <br /><br />When I was growing up, snooty restaurants would apparently (I maybe went to one once, we didn't go to restaurants at all, even pizza was exotic) they printed the menu in French, with no english translation. If you were the right kind of person you knew that "rognons de veau en creme" was a dish and whether you wanted it or not. The modern equivalent is a little less agressive. I agree, you could ask, just like in the snooty restaurant. And the snooty waiter would tell you that "rognons" were kidneys and you'd feel smaller.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13465119548277002277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-26979590738500166952017-07-12T18:32:18.685-07:002017-07-12T18:32:18.685-07:00On a serious note, when lugubrious worldly sophist...On a serious note, when lugubrious worldly sophistication and emphatic, bellowing tolerance are purported as the highest societal values, there will certainly be consequences. <br /><br />Indeed it is reasonable to assume that restaurateurs will want to appeal to the phony worldliness of tjis poseur chic. Said gastropurveyors will create some polyglot menu, using rare terms people will have to navigate using Google translation. This is a competitive differentiator. This is how the St. Louis Bread Company becomes some made-up name like "Panera Bread." <br /><br />Show off your Jeopardy! aware seas... and depth of understanding. This way, anyone can claim they've been to Paris, Firenze, Carthage (read: Tunis), sub-sub-sub-something Ghana, southwestern central longitudinal Tibet, etc. combine that with a Alex Trebek's condesciending diction and you have a winner. Try to match that! <br /><br />Gosh golly, you'd have to be as smart as David Brooks to keep up!<br /><br />Now Brooks is sensitive about the heaping social danger of all this poseury, which elevates him to a more tolerant, understanding and empathetic species, which is yet another trump card he throws upon those who consider their globalist understandings to be quite fashionable. So now he gets to shame their inflated sense of themselves, which is quite, er, self-inflating for Mr. Brooks. So this self-congratulation and moral magnificence is actually quite circularly status-oriented. How quaint. What else would one expect from the "conservative" New York Times columnist?Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-59076477330578587402017-07-12T18:17:00.929-07:002017-07-12T18:17:00.929-07:00Just imagine what evil was imagined when mayonnais...Just imagine what evil was imagined when mayonnaise arrived on the culinary scene.Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-80513329086516819852017-07-12T18:15:02.012-07:002017-07-12T18:15:02.012-07:00I'm still trying to remember the difference be...I'm still trying to remember the difference between pailliards and medallions. sestamibihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03713681322114049960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-26395098892889946032017-07-12T14:39:56.641-07:002017-07-12T14:39:56.641-07:00I saw the article yesterday as well, and the story...I saw the article yesterday as well, and the story was apparently designed to remind us that social class is real, and how easily we can forget our world can be different from others, and awareness of this can help bridge divides.<br /><br />But I admit his example didn't work for me. <br /><br />That is, I accept this is a sort of "status" issue, status is in part about "what the cool kids" think, so if in school you were in the cool crowd, you could help define what's cool, and if you wanted to be cool, your job was to learn what's cool, and follow their lead. And then the cool and wanna-be-cool people can live in their bubble of coolness, and stand apart from those uncool people who are not in the know.<br /><br />But the other side, is there is always an antistatus crowd where it is obvious what the status people are doing is pretense, and it can look laughable from the outside, like paying $5 for a Latte Macchiato or seeing someone bring a $50 bottle of wine to a party trying to impress the guests, while you know your $10 bottle tastes just a good.<br /><br />So when Brooks talks of discomfort in the woman, probably he's correct in his assessment, and sometimes a person might be open to trying something new, asking for advice, but as well, it is easy for an anti-status to prejudge and dismiss things that seem intentionally hyped up as something intended to be more than it is, merely for the right to charge more for yuppie suckers with too much money. And a person on a modest income might prefer not to be introduced at all to a world of expenses that you never would aspire to, even if you did have the money. So it's a values issue then - and trying to purchase status is for people who don't know what things are really worth. <br /><br />There's a reverse contempt going on there on top of resentment. The resentment may not be "I wish I could waste money on fancy named foods." rather "I wish I didn't need to worry about how to budget the things my kids deserve."<br /><br />So whatever is true in this situation, there can be a lot going on. It just looks to me that money is central. And when money is hard won, you don't waste it on vanity.<br /><br />And in this regard, I don't see any problems. The real problem is only that status matters to many people, and they make poor decisions (like carrying life long credit card debt) for the appearance of success.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-85336790701013176892017-07-12T12:53:03.641-07:002017-07-12T12:53:03.641-07:00The canard au sang comment reminds me of a delight...The canard au sang comment reminds me of a delightful moment - only marginally related to translation matters - that happened to my girlfriend and me in Spain. Julie speaks fluent French and had picked up a little Spanish before we left. We were in a small restaurant/bar in Northern Spain, and the menu was entirely in Spanish. She decided to order something called very nearly (as I recall), sopa de carne. We both knew what it <i>said</i>, but I advised her, "Julie, never order something called 'meat soup' in a place like this". Being a modern woman, she barged ahead. When the "meat soup" arrived, with patches of intestine (you could watch the tiny villi sway like seagrass if you looked closely) floating in a sea of grease, she decided to pass. <br /><br />Being a centered and well-traveled person, she did not feel the slightest embarrassment. Even while I was laughing my rear off.<br /><br />Mistakes, they will be made.trigger warninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06310637474428322994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-9352020851949055682017-07-12T11:32:45.562-07:002017-07-12T11:32:45.562-07:00Good discussion of this at Grim's Hall:
http:...Good discussion of this at Grim's Hall:<br /><br />http://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2017/07/david-brooks-gets-one-right.htmlDavid Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-7456638390041361782017-07-12T10:25:35.352-07:002017-07-12T10:25:35.352-07:00A high school "degree"? I believe those...A high school "degree"? I believe those are called diplomas. They were when I graduated, and when my children graduated (both in this century).Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.com