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Language and food

  Tags: Press Article | Idiom
 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
Ogrim
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 Message 1 of 5
17 October 2012 at 2:40pm | IP Logged 
Here is an article from the Guardian with a discussion BTL that could easily have been a thread on HTLAL. It is about figures of speech related to food.

Foodie figures of speech
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meramarina
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 Message 2 of 5
23 October 2012 at 11:43am | IP Logged 
This reminds me of a series the NY Times has about "private languages" or industry-specific jargon, not exactly the same topic as above, but quite funny anyway!

NYC restaurant slang

Too bad this is the "clean" version, but I guess these establishments want to stay in business!

Edited by meramarina on 23 October 2012 at 11:44am

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montmorency
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 Message 3 of 5
23 October 2012 at 7:26pm | IP Logged 
Not quite food, but I found a nice German expression via a Fontane novel today:



"(Jemandem) ist die Ernte verhagelt" (someone's) harvest is ruined by hail (they are looking miserable because their hopes have come to nothing).

(In the novel, the word used was "Gerste", or "barley").

A traditional British English near equivalent might be (said about someone who is looking down in the mouth): "he looks like he's lost a bob and found a tanner"

(lost one shilling (or 12 pence) and found sixpence).


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fabriciocarraro
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 Message 4 of 5
23 October 2012 at 7:38pm | IP Logged 
Here in Brazil we use a lot of "arroz e feijão" (means "rice and beans"). For those who don't know, "arroz com feijão" is a must in 'every' Brazilian house. The daily meals usually contain rice + beans + some kind of meat + salad or potatoes or something else, but 'always' rice + beans + the rest.

So, "fazer o arroz e feijão" ("make rice and beans") means "do the basics" or "do something in a basic way".
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montmorency
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 Message 5 of 5
23 October 2012 at 10:55pm | IP Logged 
fabriciocarraro wrote:


So, "fazer o arroz e feijão" ("make rice and beans") means "do the basics" or "do something in a basic way".


Sounds a bit like the American "meat and potatoes" expression.

We also have the more general "bread and butter" expression.







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