tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post6185789637047477069..comments2024-03-29T03:45:01.236-07:00Comments on TalkToYoUniverse: Diners, Drive-ins, Dives and how to tell them apartJuliette Wadehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-41050114218305526202009-08-31T11:56:13.208-07:002009-08-31T11:56:13.208-07:00Interesting point, Max. Menus are another optiona...Interesting point, Max. Menus are another optional feature of eating establishments! As are legible ones - I once went to a fancy Japanese restaurant where the whole menu was in calligraphy, and I couldn't read a thing!<br /><br />Great observations, K. Obviously there are lots of ways to tell these apart. My biggest point I guess would be to think through what the options are!Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-12561416509557663632009-08-31T11:33:46.722-07:002009-08-31T11:33:46.722-07:00This is a fun game!
'Round these parts, you t...This is a fun game!<br /><br />'Round these parts, you think diner, you think Jersey, and there are plenty of Jersey diners that serve alcohol. <br /><br />Your paradigmatic diner would be in a rail or trolley car. I would say 1) a diner has to serve breakfast all day, 2) a diner can't close for more than 6 hours a day and 3) a diner has an exhaustive menu. <br /><br />The human mind constantly compares and contrasts to make categories, even if we don't agree on the criteria for the categories. My midwestern mother said 'crick,' and growing up, I thought it was a seperate word for a small creek rather than an alternate pronunciation. <br /><br />-K.Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996587091003594735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-27052301876399601572009-08-30T20:58:59.398-07:002009-08-30T20:58:59.398-07:00Medieval inns also weren’t the same as restaurants...Medieval inns also weren’t the same as restaurants where you actually order food off a menu. I’d read that the notion originated in China, though <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant#History" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia has a reference to an earlier development in Islamic lands</a>. Some cultures might never get past the “you eat what’s currently cooking on the fire” stage for their eating establishments.Max Kaehnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01385791086460457209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-54950285915946375402009-08-30T17:14:17.403-07:002009-08-30T17:14:17.403-07:00Oh, and Mike's visit reminds me I should also ...Oh, and Mike's visit reminds me I should also have mentioned another use of eating establishments in sf/f - their function as storytelling locales. Mike Flynn has a whole series of stories told in an Irish Pub, including most recently "Where the Winds are All Asleep" in the October 2009 issue of Analog.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-91062939996249893482009-08-30T17:11:42.936-07:002009-08-30T17:11:42.936-07:00Sounds excellent, Mike. I like your proposed etym...Sounds excellent, Mike. I like your proposed etymology a lot. My husband and I were laughing when in Australia about the fact that the best fish and chips shops were typically run by Greeks in his experience - perhaps it is a worldwide culinary conspiracy :-D . Great to see you stop by.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-72297878429809748002009-08-30T14:13:15.381-07:002009-08-30T14:13:15.381-07:00OTOH, the Clinton Diner on I-78 does have a bar, a...OTOH, the Clinton Diner on I-78 does have a bar, and could not be called a dive. Diners are descended from railroad dining cars and take their name from them. You will generally not hear a blind saxophonist wailing jazz in a dim-lit diner, but you may in a dim-lit dive. I believe dives took their name from the fact that you often had to descend a flight of steps below street level to enter the place. <br /><br />Another distinction is that diners are run by Greeks and not-diners are run by not-Greeks. IOW, different kinds of restaurants may be typical of different ethnoi, not because they are forced to do so by a prejudiced society - no one forces the Greeks hereabouts to run diners - bt because of family traditions, ties, support networks, etc. <br /><br />Here in the east, there is a fine distinction between a "diner" and a "family restaurant" that has to do with the amount of chrome used. <br /><br />;-DTheOFloinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14756711106266484327noreply@blogger.com