English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

00:00

Nice.

I know nothing of Old English.

tchrist

I am forever struggling with pronunciation. But it is mean to be phonetic, so you just have to learn the key.

This is somewhat curious. I wonder if they are doing their attributions correctly?

Cerberus

Blue graph looks a bit arbitrary.

tchrist

They may be something historical that explains it, I suppose.

Cerberus

00:16

It is possible.

But the quality of Google's index is not great, so...

tchrist

NPR and BBC seem to have given in on the Myanmarese thing and have started just saying Burmese again.

They call the country Myanmar, but use Burmese for the adjective or inhabitants.

Cerberus

I say Burma/Birma for everything.

I don't care about the whims of dictators.

Nor do I believe they even want is to use their version.

Just as the French don't want me to say Paris: we have always said Parijs, and that's normal.

tchrist

Is this some political nonsense?

Cerberus

It certainly is.

tchrist

The French don’t want us to say Paris any more?

Cerberus

00:20

No, they just don't care.

tchrist

What then are we to say, Paree?

Cerberus

That is the exact opposite of what I was saying, well done!

tchrist

baffles

pouts

Cerberus

The French don't say 's Gravenhage either. They couldn't pronounce it even if they wanted to. They have always said la Haye, and that's perfectly fine.

tchrist

But how is this politics?

Cerberus

00:22

Well, some silly PC people want to pronounce "Beijing" just because that is marginally closer to what the Chinese say.

tchrist

They also say Aix la Chapelle because they can’t get their mouths around Aachen.

Cerberus

The only thing is, the Chinese have never said "China"!

@tchrist Yes. Or just because language developed that way.

tchrist

I don’t imagine the Japanese say Japan, either.

Cerberus

I don't think they do.

There's no reason to stop saying what you've always said, like Peking, Canton, Madras, Bombay, Calcutta...

tchrist

I have no idea what they expect us to say on those except for Peking and Bombay.

I would be sad to give up Bombay Sapphire.

Mumbling about sapphires just doesn’t become it.

Cerberus

00:26

And people in Western countries are so incredibly inconsistent and self-righteous at the same time! Noöne here calls Taiwan China, even though they really want us to. Or wanted.

tchrist

No calls it Los Estados Unidos de Méjico either.

Cerberus

@tchrist I think it's Guangdong or something...no, that was the province...well, something like that for Canton. Madras is Chennai, Calcutta is ehm I forgot.

With a j?

Is that the official name in Mexico itself?

tchrist

No, it’s how the Spanish spell it.

Cerberus

Oh.

tchrist

But add in the x, and I think it is official.

The Spanish newspapers spell it Méjico.

Cerberus

00:28

Oh, Calcutta is Kolkata...

I see.

tchrist

Then it is about time to fix “CatalOnia”.

That is ridiculous.

Put a u there for goodness’ sake!

Cerberus

Yeah.

tchrist

00:55

We have both ethnonyms and demonyms tags. Are those actually the same thing, or are they different? Neither has a tag wiki, so I don’t know.

Cerberus

I would say they are as good as synonyms.

You could say demonym is more about political entities while ethonym is more about culture.

But...

tchrist

I’m probably ethnically insensitive.

Cerberus

Oh?

tchrist

People use words like race and ethnicity where I would just use culture.

I don’t think having a funny holidays or a funny accent makes you a different “race”.

Cerberus

Agreed.

Those people are stupid.

tchrist

01:00

I have been accused of being racist for uttering such remarks.

So I’m probably ethnically insensitive.

Cerberus

Why?

Race to me is biological.

tchrist

Because I do am not sensitive to one of their hot-button issues.

Cerberus

Culture is, well, cultural.

tchrist

And what is ethnicity then?

Cerberus

Ethnicity is a kind of cultural thing, sometimes linked to a biological aspect, but a different one than race.

Robusto

01:02

Ethnicity is all about culture. Else what?

Cerberus

Well, you could say there is a biological aspect.

tchrist

I’ve been told it is about race, but I apparently do not understand “race”, being such a racist as I am.

Cerberus

If all your ancestors are from a certain tribe...

What is about race?

@Robusto Perhaps it is better to say ethnicity is all about culture. Perhaps the link between ethnicity and biological properties is contingent.

Robusto

If your ancestors are Kenyan and you grow up in, say, Hawaii, are you ethnically Kenyan? What about adopted Kenyans?

Cerberus

Yeah, it certainly wouldn't work with adoption.

Robusto

01:04

So it isn't about race. Not in the main.

Cerberus

It's certainly not about race; I was merely speculating about other biological aspects than race.

Robusto

Well, biology is biology. Dark skin is dark. Blond hair is light. Big noses are, well, big.

Cerberus

We commonly distinguish three or four races (even though they don't make sense to biologists).

And to me race and racism are restricted to those 3 or 4 races.

tchrist

I think of “Hispanic” as a cultural marker not a racial one.

Cerberus

@Robusto If my family is all blond and Frisian, and my friend's family is all blond and from Holland proper, there will probably still be some genetic similarity between me and many other Frisians that is not shared by my blond friend.

Robusto

01:07

There are many, many variations. Before I met my wife I couldn't make any distinctions among Asians. Now I can tell Japanese from Chinese from Korean from Vietnamese, etc.

Cerberus

@tchrist Of course.

tchrist

Then why do they talk about racial tensions with Hispanics?

Cerberus

But there is at least a strong contingent biological link between Hispanics.

Robusto

Ask J-Lo.

Cerberus

However, Anglo-Saxons and Hispanics are all Caucasian, aren't they? So the same race. So Hispanics are not a race in any sense.

Robusto

01:09

So they say. But what Hispanics? Peruvians? Bolivians? Chileans? I work with a Chilean guy who seems racially to be more midlands English than anything else.

Or maybe provincial French.

Cerberus

@tchrist They use the word race incorrectly. What can I say? People are silly.

Robusto

I don't think Hispanics are Caucasian. Not purely. They have Moorish blood, of course. And over here they had Indian blood, etc.

Cerberus

Moors are Caucasian...

Robusto

I thought they were Semitic.

Cerberus

People from India are Caucasian.

@Robusto Yes, but all Caucasian.

Robusto

01:10

Are Jews Caucasian?

Cerberus

Yes.

Between Sahara, Atlantic, North Pole, and ehm Himalaya/Ganges, people are mostly Caucasian.

Robusto

Well, East Indians are not what we would call Caucasian here. They may be Aryan, but they could never join the Aryan extremist groups in Idaho.

Cerberus

Of course they couldn't.

But you should call them Caucasian.

Robusto

10

A: A "human cue tip"?

I believe you are thinking of Q-tip. The passage means the guy was tall and very white by comparison with his companions. You can read all about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_swab

Another Enlightened badge coming.

If I didn't know better, I'd think someone is trying to make me look like I have a sock puppet.

Actually, I don't know better.

Cerberus

Caucasian/Asian/Negro(/American-Indians) are the conventional 19th-century races. They don't make sense biologically, but, if you really want to use "race", then that would seem to make the most sense. I personally find the whole word a bit useless, but OK.

Robusto

01:14

Whoever it is, I wish they'd cut it out. I don't want or need the "help" they're giving.

Cerberus

Oh, and I think Oceanian should be another 19th-century race.

Unless they were grouped under the Negro banner, but I doubt it.

tchrist

@Robusto That makes no sense at all. Hm. Does it?

Robusto

I dunno. Maybe someone is trying to get me banned.

Cerberus

Congrats.

tchrist

I don’t think that could happen.

If it does, I am sure that many of us would stick up for you.

I would, and I bet Reg would. And Shogi could look at the real data and know it wasn’t some puppet. I am sure you are fine.

Well, no puppet of yours at least, since I believe you are honest.

It could I suppose be a just-for-voting sock, but I do not know the motivation there.

HURRAY! Nohat got his golden ticket!

Robusto

01:19

0

Q: Suspicious completionist up-votings

I've been the beneficiary (victim?) of a slew of badge-inducing up votes recently, receiving probably received five or six Nice Answer and Enlightened badges in just the past week. The random up votes are not surprising, since I get a lot of passive rep. But it sure seems weird that a whole bunc...

discussion

@tchrist Does he get a tour of the chocolate factory?

tchrist

An hour ago, in fact.

Robusto

So now we'll never see him again?

tchrist

Oh, I think Mr Wonka will let him go home again.

I’ve been upvoting for badges because Jasper said it looked nice on the home page. I do not single out particular users, though.

If there was somebody else who was close to a gold, I would push for them to get it, too.

Although I may take up Reg’s idea just for the sake of the thing. :)

Robusto

Well, but you wouldn't push them on forty answers.

tchrist

And I only upvote things that I think deserve it. I don’t vote "for" the badge.

Well, Reg’s suggestion was a 46 answer.

Robusto

01:22

My highest-voted answer is 83. And I'm not proud of it.

tchrist

Would you like me to downvote it for you? :)

Robusto

My top-ranked question is at 51. It was my getting-to-know-you question from two years ago when I first started coming to the site.

Hmm, looking over my opus I think this question got short shrift:

28

Q: Does the quirky spelling in English actually make it easier to read?

I just finished reading the question asked by Bobnix, in which RegDwight referred to another question with an interesting answer by Kosmonaut. Kosmonaut refers to the great number of pictograms (Kanji or Hanzi) available in Japanese and Chinese, and mentions that the task of memorizing our weirdo...

orthography

Here's another that deserved better:

22

Q: Origins: "try and" over "try to" — how did we get there from here?

In written and standard semi-formal (and above) spoken English, one would use "try to": Try to be a better person. Try to get the fishhook out of my thumb, please. Try to find a pharmacy when you need one. But in spoken English, we (Americans, at least) usually substitute "try and...

etymology colloquialisms

I'm not talking about votes, btw. I mean I wish these had received better answers and more thought.

tchrist

There, happy now? :)

Oh well, that.

My old boss, a linguistics guy, had a thing about that. I wish I remembered what he said.

Robusto

Most people are either indifferent or prescriptivist-pedantic about it.

tchrist

@Robusto You’re right. Damn it.

It happens in a few other places, but it is not quite the same. Go and tell, run and tell.

Come and get your supper.

Robusto

01:28

And here's another one I wish would get better quality answers.

12

Q: Types of things vs. types of thing

When speaking precisely or technically, one would say that "Homo erectus and homo sapiens are two species of hominid" rather than "Homo erectus and homo sapiens are two species of hominids." The hominid here should be singular because we are speaking about instances of a single class ("class" bei...

word-choice grammaticality grammatical-number

@tchrist Not the same, I think.

tchrist

They do not feel quite the same, because there is not a pleasant way to put to there and it still sound right. But I wonder if it isn’t related.

Robusto

It might be that "try and" is a mimicry of those.

I also think this one just puzzled everybody:

8

Q: Punctuating question tags: A question mark is always required, isn't it?

Consider the sentence: You didn't leave the dog in the car, did you? In oral English, this statement may be spoken with a rising intonation or a falling one. If the former, it suggests that leaving the dog in the car is a bad thing, and might even suggest incredulity and consternation on th...

punctuation question-tags

tchrist

I wouldn’t say that rabbits and turtles are both types of pet.

They are a type of pet.

types of pets, type of pet. hm.

I like Necromancer badges. I’ve been getting those lately, too.

I have no idea how you would search for candidates.

Robusto

I am not knowing this either.

Cerberus

Wrong! You mispronounced either as ee-ther.

tchrist

01:37

He’s talking about the net.

It’s ok there.

Robusto

@Cerberus Stop trying to out-Jasper Jasper. It can't be done, and it just makes you look foolish.

Cerberus

But but...

tchrist

@Robusto He would have to be dramatically less aCerbic for that to be credible.

Robusto

rimshot

tchrist

washes mouth

Cerberus

01:40

I...can't do it.

tchrist

Sure you can.

Wait, not while the children are watching.

Cerberus

Too hard.

tchrist

Disturbing cause and effect, that.

Good evening, @Luke.

Luke

Evening to you.

Have you checked out the new site, genealogy.stackexchange.com?

tchrist

Um, no, haven’t.

Luke

01:45

You should. I got back into my genealogy and found I was related to a "Hans Jerg Zucker". Say that five times fast and see what it sounds like.

Robusto

I'm related to enough Mother Zuckers.

tchrist

language-evolution just got Taxonomized.

Luke

I'm related to myself. Talk about famous.

tchrist

Oh wait, you aren’t saying Yerg, are you?

Luke

Hans Jerk Sucker

tchrist

01:48

Right. I couldn’t make it work with the Y.

Luke

Awkward silence...

Orange-lined triggerfish

The orange-lined triggerfish, orange-striped triggerfish or undulated triggerfish (Balistapus undulatus) is a triggerfish of the tropical Indo-Pacific area. It is the only member of the genus Balistapus. They reach a maximum size of about 30 cm. They feed on coral, crabs and invertebrates. They are found up to around 50 m deep in tropical waters. Life in an aquarium Balistapus undulatus is a hardy member of a saltwater aquarium. It however has a reputation as one of the meanest fish in the aquarium trade. Sometimes young individuals will accept tank-mates but an owner should expect t...

Robusto

So I have six dozen Enlightened badges now. But I feel like they've been devalued somehow.

Luke

I read your post. Do you have any proof for this?

Robusto

If it votes like a duck, etc.

tchrist

If you are being targetted, then it will be reversed as serial upvoting.

If there is a sock being used, someone will be suspended.

But if you are not being targetted, and there is no sock, what is the wrongness?

I actually make it a point not to vote for the same person more than a few times a day.

Robusto

02:00

None, I guess. It just feels weird. Like someone is fucking with me.

Luke

Have you ever chalked a URL in the sidewalk in front of your neighbor's house?

More specifically, a URL to a SE site?

tchrist

@Luke I thought I told you to cut that out. :)

Robusto

I can't remember the last time I wrote on a sidewalk with chalk.

Luke

@tchrist ?????????????

Robusto

It was certainly before I read Der Augsburger Kreidekreis.

tchrist

02:02

@Luke Razzing you. Pay it no mind.

Somebody asked what foursquare was the other day. @Reg, I think. I imagine he doesn’t know the children’s game.

Played with chalklines if need be.

Luke

Goodnight. Homework calls...

Robusto

Bill Maher. Laterz.

tchrist

Good night.

MετάEd

02:47

@Robusto I've read Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis; evidently related.

Onanierolympiade

The connection was from the chalk circle to a different sort of "chalk circle" in Katz und Maus

which I read the same term

guru

03:17

Hello? how many people here online/active now?

MετάEd

@guru None. We've reached the end of the Internet and all gone to play tennis.

Cerberus

Oh, dear.

MετάEd

@Cerberus It's your serve.

Cerberus

backhand serve

We were discussing whether German and Dutch or Spanish and Portuguese were more similar.

MετάEd

03:36

@Cerberus swings wildly, ball goes high and slow over the net

How would you even measure that?

Cerberus

@MετάEd Over the high net behind me, I hope?

@MετάEd That is a problem in itself.

MετάEd

It has just bounced in front of you and is awaiting a slam.

Cerberus

botches up easy slam

MετάEd

It's not like you can count DNA pairs.

Cerberus

Indeed not.

MετάEd

03:41

It's all expression, no gene.

Cerberus

But we can say that Spanish and Italian are more similar than, say, Danish and Dutch.

Let's say in how easy it is for a speaker of Dutch to understand some Danish.

MετάEd

Surely someone has already run numbers on a question like this.

Cerberus

How can you run numbers?

MετάEd

Lexical similarity

In linguistics, lexical similarity is a measure of the degree to which the word sets of two given languages are similar. A lexical similarity of 1 (or 100%) would mean a total overlap between vocabularies, whereas 0 means there are no common words. There are different ways to define the lexical similarity and the results vary accordingly. For example, Ethnologue's method of calculation consists in comparing a standardized set of wordlists and counting those forms that show similarity in both form and meaning. Using such a method, English was evaluated to have a lexical similarity of 60% wi...

Cerberus

There is still a definition problem, as you say.

MετάEd

03:43

Portuguese/Spanish: 0.89/1.

Cerberus

Yeah.

MετάEd

This how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/similarities/german/… says German-Dutch is 0.75.

Cerberus

Hmm that would make sense.

MετάEd

Of course they could be measuring very differently.

But that argues that Portuguese and Spanish are closer.

Cerberus

Yeah, I would want to see their methods.

MετάEd

03:46

Definitely.

serves OUT!

Cerberus

But P and S are probably closer. They sort of split up later, if one can even speak of that.

MετάEd

Your serve.

Cerberus

Hmm perhaps you should switch to baseball?

MετάEd

serves

Hmm. Tried that. The umpire has just thrown me out for pitching using a tennis racquet.

Cerberus

how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/similarities/english/…

Haha look at this.

Everything is super difficult for English speakers!

Poor souls.

Learning German shouldn't be much harder for an Englishman than vice versa.

MετάEd

03:48

Fries is supposed to be between Dutch and English.

I have heard a little Plattdeutsch and it sounded very much like English.

So that is a different dimension: pronunciation. The figures above were, I believe, for vocabulary.

Cerberus

@MετάEd That's probably correct.

MετάEd

And then there would be grammar.

Cerberus

Plattdeutsch sounds more like Dutch to me.

MετάEd

I grew up in Iowa; there's some dialect still to be heard in settler communities. Rather like Pennsylvania Dutch.

Cerberus

@MετάEd The cacti are about grammar.

MετάEd

03:52

Which is, I think, more appropriately called Pennsylvania Deutsch.

Cerberus

@MετάEd Oh, but then that must have been heavily Anglified?

Plattdeutsch is mainly spoken in lower Germany.

MετάEd

@Cerberus I don't know enough to say.

Cerberus

I have heard of Pennsylvania Dutch, and it is very different from Dutch. More like somewhat Anglified Plattdeutsch, probably?

MετάEd

@Cerberus I don't know enough to say.

Cerberus

I see that Pennsylvanian Dutch has about 20 % English words.

MετάEd

03:58

Pennsylvania German language

The Pennsylvania German language (usually referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch, or simply as Dutch, in American English; usually referred to in Pennsylvania German as Deitsch, Pennsylvania Deitsch or Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch) is a variety of West Central German possibly spoken by more than 250,000 people in North America. It has traditionally been the language of the Pennsylvania Dutch, descendants of late 17th and early 18th century immigrants to the US states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina from southern Germany, eastern France and Switzerland. Although for many, the ...

What the hell is this double w.

Cerberus

Quoi?

MετάEd

pdc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haaptblatt

Hiwwe wie Driwwe

Hiwwe wie Driwwe, which means "Over here as over there" (cf. German Hüben wie Drüben), is the title of the only existing Pennsylvania German language newspaper. Since 1997 the publication is distributed twice a year. More than 100 Pennsylvania German authors have already contributed pieces of prose, poems and newspaper articles. The publisher and editor is Dr. Michael Werner (Ober-Olm, Germany), who also served as president of the German-Pennsylvanian Association between 2003 and 2010. On their websites, one can find poems, stories, videos and lessons in the dialect. In 2011, "Hiwwe wi...

Cerberus

Haha.

Peter PAD

12:10

Hi, everyone

RegDwighт

@tchrist Not following your reasoning. I do know the children's game. I also know the words space, yahoo, twitter, list. But that doesn't help me one bit in knowing what the heck myspace.com, yahoo.com, twitter.com, or craigslist.org are all about if I've never so much as heard of them.

Hello Peter.

tchrist

I just didn’t know whether you knew that the game. I have never heard of "Foursquare" in a way that makes it a reasonable 4th for the other 3.

RegDwighт

I am still not sure what that site is about. Or Twitter, for that matter.

In fact knowing the game is a hindrance.

But yeah, I guess someone just needed something to squeeze in that area in the Venn diagram.

@MετάEd funny, that's actually a feature of many German dialects. Including mine. And I thought Pennsylvania Dutch was completely incomprehensible to everyone.

tchrist

I hadn't realized anything was actually published in it.

RegDwighт

It's a huge community the size of a country, no?

Certainly they will have a paper or twenty.

tchrist

12:21

I thought it only have a few speakers. Like 250k.

Oh, that is just in North America.

RegDwighт

I can name a dozen countries with a population smaller than that.

250k is a lot.

tchrist

I knew you would say that.

RegDwighт

There are enough languages spoken by just a thousand people, or a hundred, or one.

tchrist

Microstates seldom have their own language.

RegDwighт

If they don't, that's mostly due to colonization.

Arguably I live in a microstate of 200k people.

With its own language. Well, more like two.

tchrist

12:24

I always have this association of horse-and-buggy rigs with Pennsylvania Dutch. I was only in rural Pennsylvania once-ish, and that as a child.

I don’t actually know where you are, except that its climate is milder than my own.

RegDwighт

I saw a couple documentaries not long ago. You have a point.

@tchrist my point is that just a couple generations ago, what went on to become Germany was a loose collection of tiny shires, each with its own everything, including language.

And this place here wasn't German just a couple decades ago.

tchrist

That isn’t very well known in North America. People talk of Germany as though it were some great state descended from the barbarian hordes who threw off the Roman occupiers and founded their own nation. Not, of course, that almost any of that has even an echo of distant truth in it.

Eastern Germany does not count?

RegDwighт

I'm not in Eastern Germany. If not for this hill next to my house, I'd be looking at France.

tchrist

Folks talk of Italy the same way. There is a certain kind of nation-myth in North America that is more heart than mind.

I too can look at France but for the wall to my east.

RegDwighт

You have very good eyes.

tchrist

12:30

Perhaps that is look to France.

But I seldom do.

You cannot imagine how many times I have heard older people gripe about countries changing their names — or borders — from the one they learned when they were young.

RegDwighт

They do have excellent cheese. And croutons. And fish soup. And crème fraîche.

tchrist

Fish soup?

RegDwighт

It kind of looks like pumpkin soup, both in terms of consistency and color.

tchrist

Bouillabaisse?

It is the time of All Things Pumpkin here, you know.

RegDwighт

Soupe de poisson.

tchrist

12:32

Color is from. . . ?

RegDwighт

Good question!

tchrist

Saffron?

RegDwighт

This is the first time in my life that I ask myself what's the deal with the color.

tchrist

►

> La rouille est une sauce provençale épicée et relevée qui est habituellement servie avec la soupe de poisson ou la bouillabaisse.

> Elle est composée de foie de lotte, de pomme de terre, de tomate ainsi que d'un peu d'ail et d'huile d'olive et le tout passé au pilon et au mortier, agrémenté d'un peu de fumet du plat de poisson. Quelquefois appelée mayonnaise provençale, la rouille est servie avec la bouillabaisse ou la soupe de poissons à la sétoise et accompagne les plats de poisson, les crustacés et les poulpes.

Maybe it is the tomato?

RegDwighт

I was just going to say that.

Of course!

Anyway. It's delicious and completely different from bouillabaisse.

tchrist

12:36

So it is like that heresy known as Manhattan Clam Chowder: they put tomatoes in their fishy stuff.

Are there chunks of stuff in it, or is it ground smooth?

RegDwighт

It's completely puréed. No chunks whatsoever.

You wouldn't be able to tell what's in it from the looks.

tchrist

I see.

RegDwighт

Exhibit A: see above.

tchrist

It looked like a thick tomato soup, but orange not yellow. Cream can do that.

> The broth is traditionally served with a rouille, a mayonnaise made of olive oil, garlic, saffron and cayenne pepper on grilled slices of bread.

So a rouille does, or can have, saffron.

There are many tasty fishy soups around the world.

Almost none of which do we ever taste here.

RegDwighт

Oh yes.

Oh that's a pity.

tchrist

12:39

Whole Foods’ deli makes a tolerable Cioppino.

And a good lobster bisque. And an excellent (New England) clam chowder. They also have this smoked salmon thing.

The bisque looks like what you showed.

RegDwighт

@tchrist it can be yellowish orange or reddish orange; thick or thin; but the taste is always quite specific, setting it apart from other fish soups.

tchrist

Otherwise you really have to go to high-end gourmet restaurants.

I wonder what gives it that distinctive flavor.

RegDwighт

I'm not even sure what fish is used.

tchrist

It may be because the ocean here is only as far away as the nearest airport. People seldom make soups out of rainbow trout or other freshwater fish.

RegDwighт

In fact it also comes in lobster.

tchrist

12:42

Ah.

RegDwighт

Or crayfish.

But those, of course, taste differently.

tchrist

Yes, they do. Sweet.

Here is the recipe for the lobster bisque I mentioned.

They have their encoding wrong. Sorry.

But you can figure it out with no trouble.

RegDwighт

Okay, dumb question. What is "butter, divided"?

tchrist

They do not specify what the stock is though, and that must make a great deal of difference.

It means that the four tablespoons of butter are not a block, but are literally separated into four tablespoons.

They must be going to use them at separate parts of the recipe.

RegDwighт

Ah okay. I had that theory.

That it was referring to spoons, not butter.

@tchrist yes. Tell me about it.

tchrist

12:45

I don’t know how to separate butter otherwise. Ghee?

RegDwighт

Halberd.

tchrist

The smoked pimentón doubtless imparts both flavor and color.

And the tomato purée much color.

RegDwighт

Well great. Now I'm hungry.

I'll go fetch me some soup.

tchrist

Yup.

user19161

SE is so interesting. Now someone wants to come and stay with me. But I can't accommodate him/her.

tchrist

12:49

Our farmers market doesn’t open for another hour. They have a lot of fresh food like that. Used to be a Russian booth with glorious mushroom stew (vegetarian).

He called it soup, but I call it stew.

There’s a CouchSurfing.SE?