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  • #16
    Quoth TheSHAD0W View Post
    I suspect that's likely what they meant, as so far as I know the US Northwest has no distinct cuisine attributed to it.
    We actually sort of do. It's salmon. Everything is salmon.

    Quoth Lore View Post
    Up here in Canada, Western food could be: a) West Coast cuisine, like salmon and bannoc
    And bannock. Aka frybread. Mmmm....frybread....

    We have coffee, too. It's part of the food pyramid, I think.
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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    • #17
      Quoth Eireann View Post
      I have one guess.

      They wanted something "traditionally American" (hamburgers, hot dogs, crap like that).
      If they'd have been from further away (Middle or Far East) that would have been my guess. But I'm pretty sure they have similar foods in Europe (Western Europe, at least) so I would've been equally lost with this pair. Pity they couldn't give you a bit of a clue as to what they were looking for, since as thehuckster points out, "Western food" is so vast and vague, you could've played "20 Questions" for the rest of the day and still been no further ahead.

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      • #18
        Quoth raudf View Post
        Or they could have been talking about the "Southern Comfort" food, like... fried chicken, corn bread, and lots of gravy. Still they should have clarified what their idea of "Western" food is. I mean by Asian standards, European style food would be "Western!"
        Proabbly that definition. Or anything that's not "foreign"
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        • #19
          I don't know what you people are talking about. Of course there's Western food! All you had to do was send them to Denny's for a Western Omelet!

          Seriously, "western food" is very vague. Technically speaking, Japan is west of where I'm from (Arizona), so sushi could be considered western food back home. (It isn't, of course, but it could be.) This, of course, is a reversal of my usual poke at Texans; whenever I meet people from Texas, I say something to the effect of how nice it is to meet some Easterners. Which almost always gets a response along the lines of, "Easterners? We're from TEXAS!" To which I calmly reply, "I'm from Arizona. From where I'm from, y'all are Easterners."

          Haven't met a Texan yet who could argue that logic.

          Quoth Merriweather View Post
          I recall a couple of instances where I asked for something I thought was crystal clear and received only blank stares, at which point I realized language differences go much deeper than most people realize...
          This is so very true. Most people realize that there is slang in all languages, but few people realize how deep it goes, how much it affects the phrases and phraseology we use. A perfect example of this was brought home to me the other day when I was talking to one of the Mexican guys that cleans The Bar. We were discussing various words (as much as we could discuss anything, as he speaks just a little English, and I speak just a little Spanish), and it came out that in Spanish (Mexican Spanish at least), the word they use for "hungover" is actually a word that translates to English literally as "raw." Which at first made no sense to me...but then I realized it made a whole hell of a lot of sense, when you think about it.

          And of course, that got me thinking....to people who speak another language, how ODD a phrase is "hungover" to describe the next-day-after-drinking-too-much feeling? Hung over what? Why are you hanging at all?

          There are a lot of phrases in English that we take for granted that have just GOT to confuse people who didn't grow up with the language. Hell, even within the same language, there are vast differences, as I found out up close and personal when I was engaged to The Brit. A great example of this is a popular British term for a cigarette. What they say to describe a smoke break would, in the U.S., be tantamount to admitting a hate crime.

          And on and on...you get the idea.

          "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
          Still A Customer."

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          • #20
            Quoth Jester View Post
            "Easterners? We're from TEXAS!"
            Well, a fairly large number of Westerns to seem to be set there >_>
            And of course, that got me thinking....to people who speak another language, how ODD a phrase is "hungover" to describe the next-day-after-drinking-too-much feeling? Hung over what? Why are you hanging at all?
            I always just figured it referred to worshipping the porcelain diety, and one's head position when doing so...

            IIRC, in German, the term for "hangover" is "Katzenkrank" or just "Katz". I believe it translates more or less to "sick cats". Having been owned by cats for several years, this euphimism makes perfect sense to me
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            • #21
              Quoth EricKei View Post
              Well, a fairly large number of Westerns to seem to be set there >_>
              True. And that is another point I use to poke fun at Texans. Because, as you said, a lot of Westerns were SET in Texas. Not FILMED in Texas. SET there. The amusing thing is, the vast majority of old Westerns that were SET in Texas were actually FILMED in Old Tucson Studios.

              Which is in Arizona.




              Quoth EricKei View Post
              I always just figured it referred to worshipping the porcelain diety, and one's head position when doing so...
              That may well be true, or some variant of it. It still is rather slang-like, especially if you are not a native English speaker.

              "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
              Still A Customer."

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              • #22
                Quoth bhskittykatt View Post
                Note: If you ask them to define "Western" food, they simply say "You know, Western!"
                "No, I don't know. That's why I asked."

                Seriously, that's a pet peeve of mine. Repeating the exact same thing I didn't understand the first time is not going to help.
                Last edited by MadMike; 10-07-2012, 02:11 AM.
                Sometimes life is altered.
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                • #23
                  Next time they want "Western food," send them my way and I'll give them some of my ultra-spicy "Devil's Ass Chili."

                  They won't bother you again after that. Even if they survive.

                  "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                  Still A Customer."

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                  • #24
                    The only time I saw "western" food advertised was when I was in China. At least there you understand why they would...

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                    • #25
                      Yeah, my boss refers to Canadian/American food as "western", as opposed to Asian food. We sell Asian food (noodles, dumplings, stir fried veggies, hot and sour soup) and western food (sandwiches, bagels, omelets).

                      I assumed when I read the title and the dialogue that the people asking were Asian, then I reread and realized they were European, so it makes no sense.

                      ... Okay fine, I was imagining my boss asking the question. Although I don't think he would go deliberately looking for western food, he always complains about being surrounded by it.

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                      • #26
                        My usual suggestion is a steak house when confronted with someone asking for the "Western" style of food.

                        Had one person get upset when I suggested the hotel restaurant for steak (our steaks are amazing, I've tried most of them) because they wanted a place using local meat not some crappy hotel supplier. So I sent them to the fancy steak place downtown that charges three times our inflated restaurant prices. I forgot to mention that the downtown place and our restaurant have the same supplier who's about 35 miles down the interstate.

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                        • #27
                          Quoth Jester View Post
                          This, of course, is a reversal of my usual poke at Texans
                          Speaking of pokes at Texans, at restaurants in Alaska, do the children's/seniors/"for smaller appetites" sections of the menus refer to "Texas-size" portions?
                          Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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                          • #28
                            Quoth EricKei View Post
                            IIRC, in German, the term for "hangover" is "Katzenkrank" or just "Katz". I believe it translates more or less to "sick cats". Having been owned by cats for several years, this euphimism makes perfect sense to me
                            In Danish it's "tømmermænd". An old-fashioned word for carpenters, which make a lot of sense too .

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                            • #29
                              Quoth Mikkel View Post
                              In Danish it's "tømmermænd". An old-fashioned word for carpenters, which make a lot of sense too .
                              Does it translate out to 'hammerer' or something like that?
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                              • #30
                                Quoth Jester View Post
                                This, of course, is a reversal of my usual poke at Texans; whenever I meet people from Texas, I say something to the effect of how nice it is to meet some Easterners. Which almost always gets a response along the lines of, "Easterners? We're from TEXAS!" To which I calmly reply, "I'm from Arizona. From where I'm from, y'all are Easterners."

                                Haven't met a Texan yet who could argue that logic.
                                Or US 'Southerners'.

                                Them: "We're from South of the Mason-Dixon line".
                                Me: "Where I'm from, it only counts if you're south of the Equator."
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                                2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                                3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                                4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

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