tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post4768686127018034024..comments2023-12-08T21:55:30.375-06:00Comments on Life, Love, and Food: What Exactly Is Eating Grass? (A Rant About Language)Rosiecat24http://www.blogger.com/profile/07219527037186545061noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post-20172159890195783802013-08-13T16:18:44.003-05:002013-08-13T16:18:44.003-05:00This is a great post. Our language most definitely...This is a great post. Our language most definitely informs our perceptions, and hence affects our choices. And it's probably not a stretch to suppose that the animal industry prefers that we separate ourselves from the truthful descriptions.<br /><br />A side: the term meat wasn't always exclusive to animal flesh. Meat and mead was food and drink. I like to think of my vegetables as meat :)Jeremyhttp://theminnericks.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post-10392500298489533202012-04-18T20:49:27.708-05:002012-04-18T20:49:27.708-05:00Thanks, R! It's nice having a historian aroun...Thanks, R! It's nice having a historian around :-) Some of my favorite people were history majors in college.<br /><br />Anglo-Norman...that seems like it implies both the people of the British Isles and the coast of what is now France. So perhaps the word pork has roots in more than one language?Rosiecat24https://www.blogger.com/profile/07219527037186545061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post-48697025955253448022012-04-12T19:39:15.734-05:002012-04-12T19:39:15.734-05:00Very preliminary investigation shows that beef com...Very preliminary investigation shows that beef comes from Latin (bovinus) via Old French and was being used in English by the fourteenth century. Cow comes from Old German (and referred specifically to female bovines). Beef-cow seems to have been a relatively common usage until the 19th century. Pork comes from the Anglo-Norman for pig, so they were probably once basically interchangeable Pork also seems to have been used in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period to refer to pig meat that was uncured. I shall continue occasional digging when I am tired of grading and have some time. :)Raquelitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13138113830990586689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post-33192022480174402092012-04-12T13:07:04.915-05:002012-04-12T13:07:04.915-05:00Hi, R! Good point about the plants. I'd add ...Hi, R! Good point about the plants. I'd add that we do keep the name of the plant: BROCCOLI florets or ARTICHOKE hearts. (Mmm, I love artichoke hearts.)<br /><br />I don't have a problem with having specific names for cuts of meat. But again, we talk about pork shoulder, not pig shoulder or a beef brisket, not a cow brisket.<br /><br />I would love to hear more about the etymological origins of this practice! I'm pretty sure the food names (like beef or pork) are from French, while the living animal names (like cow or pig) are from old English. But beyond that...? So yes, put those historian skills to work and report back :-) (in your "spare time," of course...right? Right!)Rosiecat24https://www.blogger.com/profile/07219527037186545061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post-88586460749333629302012-04-11T19:07:18.190-05:002012-04-11T19:07:18.190-05:00Hmmm.... I think one of the issues is that for pla...Hmmm.... I think one of the issues is that for plants that we don't eat all of we do sometimes use specific words to reference that - like we qualify artichoke hearts or we refer to broccoli florets versus stems. <br /><br />I'm going to be thinking about this some more. I might even do a little etymological research because clearly there is a long history of using different terms to refer to different cuts of meat/dead animal, etc.Raquelitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13138113830990586689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post-59333755201848846462012-04-10T13:45:24.084-05:002012-04-10T13:45:24.084-05:00Thank you, Shannon! I wondered if this would make...Thank you, Shannon! I wondered if this would make sense to anyone else, or if I'm a nutcase for making a big deal about it. I'm glad it resonated with you :-)<br /><br />About ignorance: I think that's spot-on. For as much as you and I know about food (because we care about food and cooking and health), there is so much ignorance out there. I don't want to beat people up, but there is so much at stake with our health that we are ignorant at our own peril. I want to help connect the dots.Rosiecat24https://www.blogger.com/profile/07219527037186545061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6822839939627192494.post-82786415261732972212012-04-10T13:23:48.577-05:002012-04-10T13:23:48.577-05:00i like it! i've always thought the wording wa...i like it! i've always thought the wording was a bit off... and it's like people don't connect the dots. like they think ignorance is ok on that front?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13898098819208716948noreply@blogger.com