Lost in translation

At the risk of sounding rude by offending anyone, please put this down to my Australian sense of warped humour. :p

It intrigues us as to the use of the word 'Entree' to describe the Mains course. All of our dictionaries refer to it as 'a dish served before the main course of meal' and we always get confused by seeing it on the menu (instead of Mains). Can anyone explain why this is so in the US?

There are many words which have different nuances in our language to others, so we always learning from our experiences. Whenever we travel we have become used to people making comments such as:

'You have a funny accent, what part of Texas are you from'

'What part of Texas is Australia' (from a retired geography teacher)

'You speak such good English' (meaning that we are from Austria)

'Do Australians aspire to be like us Americans?' (I was eating my lunch one day in the MDR when the gentleman beside me said this - I nearly choked on my food!)

'Those Kangaroos,are they very intelligent?' (My husband has a very wicked reply to that one!)

Anyway, if anyone can please answer my question that would be great. Again, please don't take us too seriously! We don't :)

Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entr%C3%A9e

Thanks Bob - I should have guessed that you would know!

Interestingly though it does refer to mainly 'meat dishes' as Entrees.

Cheers

Chris

Thanks Bob - I should have guessed that you would know!

 

Interestingly though it does refer to mainly 'meat dishes' as Entrees.

 

Cheers

Chris

Very curious about your husband's reply to the query about Kangaroo intelligence.:)

To OP Chris:

On behalf of the countless clueless people in the world...apologies - and thanks for your obvious great sense of humor!!!:)

Very curious about your husband's reply to the query about Kangaroo intelligence.:)

Bob, it's a really good one to share over a glass of wine - it has to do with computers and short arms (which the roos have). He also has repertoires which cover our other wildlife including Koalas and Platypus. He can be very irreverent and takes great delight in telling tales to those unfortunate to take him seriously.

Bob, it's a really good one to share over a glass of wine - it has to do with computers and short arms (which the roos have). He also has repertoires which cover our other wildlife including Koalas and Platypus. He can be very irreverent and takes great delight in telling tales to those unfortunate to take him seriously.

Well then he sounds like much fun, and I look forward to cruising with you someday and enjoying that glass of wine!

That would be good! :)

Well then he sounds like much fun, and I look forward to cruising with you someday and enjoying that glass of wine!

Bob, Wayne just arrived home, saw my post and said 'only 1 glass of wine!' ;)

Dictionary dot com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entree?s=t says "a dish served as the main course of a meal". Our UK friends also call the main course the entree so it's not just in the US. I guess it's just like appetizers or starters, same difference.;)

Our UK friends also call the main course the entree so it's not just in the US.

Err, no. Your UK friends have been learning some pretty bad habits from you ;)

Appetiser (sorry, can't sink to spelling it your way :p) in the US, starter in the UK, entrée in France

Followed by entrée in the US, main course or "mains" in the UK, le plat (or plat principal) in France.

Don't get me started on dessert/sweet/pudding :rolleyes:

First time I went to France, school exchange visit.

Ate everything on my plate, & was asked if I wanted more.

In my perfect schoolboy French I replied "Non merci, je suis plein".

Translated literally "I am full", so perfectly correct.

Everyone at table fell about laughing.

The phrase "Je suis plein" means "I'm pregnant". :o

JB :)

One of my favorite bloggers researched and answered this question here: http://languageoffood.blogspot.com/2009/08/entree.html

Essentially, the original usage in French was a substantial meat course served before the main roast course. But in the last 100 years, we've stopped serving roasts as a separate course, and the meaning of the word has changed.

American English has kept the part of the definition that referred to the substantial meat dish.

French has kept the part of the definition that referred to being at the beginning or before, and it now means an entirely different type of food, which used to be called entremets.

British English and Australian English have adopted the modern French definition.

My friend traveled all over the world long before I met him so he didn't "learn bad habits from me" and several other Brits I know also call it the entree. Whatever.:cool:

Great thread. I was once asked (I'm Canadian) if we lived in an igloo. Dead serious.

Don't feel too bad about the geography thing; those of us who live in the state of New Mexico are routinely complimented on how well we speak English, told we need passports to travel to Atlanta and occasionally receive packages from the US Postal Service with customs declaration stickers sent from New York. We would like to think they just didn't hear the 'New' when we tell them where we're from.....but even National Geographic has misplaced us on a few maps.

Great thread. I was once asked (I'm Canadian) if we lived in an igloo. Dead serious.

I trust you said "Yes" ;)

JB :)

caa,

Great link to a great food blog. Thank you. The next time my husband complains about the 'incorrect' use of entrée, I can explain. :)

As to many Americans' knowledge of geography, it is simply amazing each and every time. :eek:

Yup...we live in Canada and we often get the same.

The strangest one was three years ago on a boat tour of Lake Tahoe (I think). In conversation with my DW, lady found out she was a nurse.

Next question/statement was ".....I hear from my sister that Canadian hospitals are dirty and the nurses all wear bhurkas (sp)". DW decided to simply pass that one by instead of replying to the poor woman.

*Reads the stories about fellow US citizens stupidity, feels really embarrassed that those incidents happen*[emoji55]

Sent from my SGH-T399 using Tapatalk

I was recently asked if many Kangaroos get hit by cars n Sydney with all the cars in the CBD.

I remember there was some Australian tourism office (I think) that had posted some commonly asked rather stupid questions with the office staff's answers. Maybe a year or two ago. Just don't take a sip of soda (Coke, etc.) before reading.

There are also regional differences among Americans. When I was growing up, what we called the part of the newspaper the "funnies," my Chicago-born father would call the "comics."

What I would consider the entree is the main part of the main course with the potatoes and/or veggies the sides. My family never ordered appetizers when we went out to dinner so it's still strange to pay attention to them on cruises.

Australians got some weird questions in the lead up to the Sydney Olympics and maybe that's the list you are thinking of, many to do with out wildlife and many more about haveing 2 hours free in Sydney did they have to book to see Ayres Rock, or had a hire car and 2 days they thought that they'd visit a friend in Adelaide.

I'll admit that until I looked at Australia in Google Earth I don't think I realized how big it is.

I did however know that I wasn't going to run into any kangaroos or koalas in a city unless they were in a zoo. :) And I did try to learn some phrases, etc. so I didn't sound like a "dumb American".

Absolutely loved Australia and NZ, by the way.

I'll admit that until I looked at Australia in Google Earth I don't think I realized how big it is.

 

I did however know that I wasn't going to run into any kangaroos or koalas in a city unless they were in a zoo. :) And I did try to learn some phrases, etc. so I didn't sound like a "dumb American".

 

Absolutely loved Australia and NZ, by the way.

I've tried to resist but I can't what phrases did you learn?

In the city, and indeed most towns, many of them will have been wasted.

OMG even G'day is disappearing.