Ken Blake

In news[email protected],
devil <[email protected]> typed:

    > I understand some Brazilian fishes such as the Garoupa are
close
    > cousins to some groupers. Or maybe I am a vicxtim of the
dictionary
    > yet again?



I've always assumed that the word "garoupa" (which I've seen only
in Chinese restaurants; I didn't know it was Brazilian) was
simple a common Chinese misspelling of "grouper." Am I wrong? Is
there actually a distinct fish with that name?

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Padraig Breathnach

Jeremy Henderson <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Speaking of which, I remember reading that "scampi" that you buy deep
    >fried in pubs is usually actually "monkfish". Supposing the dictionary is
    >correct, and "monkfish" is the stuff we buy as "lotte", that makes no
    >sense to me, snce lotte is delicious and scampi is ... well ... pub food.
First, I (and my taste-buds) agree with your dictionary.

I think the story about scampi is no longer true, that it goes back to
a time when monkfish was not known and liked by many. Its hideous
appearance counted against it, and it was then known as angler fish.
It was more recently rebranded as monkfish.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Devil

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 22:07:06 +0100, Padraig Breathnach wrote:

    > Jeremy Henderson <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >>Speaking of which, I remember reading that "scampi" that you buy deep
    >>fried in pubs is usually actually "monkfish". Supposing the dictionary is
    >>correct, and "monkfish" is the stuff we buy as "lotte", that makes no
    >>sense to me, snce lotte is delicious and scampi is ... well ... pub food.
    > First, I (and my taste-buds) agree with your dictionary.
    >
    > I think the story about scampi is no longer true, that it goes back to
    > a time when monkfish was not known and liked by many. Its hideous
    > appearance counted against it, and it was then known as angler fish.
    > It was more recently rebranded as monkfish.

Scampi are supposed to be a prawn from the Adriatic. With round tail fans.
Best ones I ever had was in Rijeka in the early seventies, when Tito
was still alive and Yugoslavia still existed.

Sounds like your pub was gauging you?

Devil

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:41:51 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:

    > In news[email protected],
    > devil <[email protected]> typed:
    >
    >> I understand some Brazilian fishes such as the Garoupa are
    > close
    >> cousins to some groupers. Or maybe I am a vicxtim of the
    > dictionary
    >> yet again?
    >
    >
    >
    > I've always assumed that the word "garoupa" (which I've seen only
    > in Chinese restaurants; I didn't know it was Brazilian) was
    > simple a common Chinese misspelling of "grouper." Am I wrong? Is
    > there actually a distinct fish with that name?

There definitely is a garoupa in Brazil. Which does not necessarily mean
that the garoupa in your Chinese restaurant was not a misspelling of
grouper. Or were the restaurant owners from Brazil?

Back to Brazil, I was at some point under the impression that garoupa and
robalo might have been the same animal, but in truth, that seems a bit odd.

Magda

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:41:51 -0700, in rec.travel.europe, "Ken Blake"
<[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :


... I've always assumed that the word "garoupa" (which I've seen only
... in Chinese restaurants; I didn't know it was Brazilian) was
... simple a common Chinese misspelling of "grouper." Am I wrong? Is
... there actually a distinct fish with that name?

Yes, there is.

http://www.scubadiver.com.br/scubadiver/garoupa.html
No text in English, but a beautiful picture of the beast.

http://www.brasilny.org/turismo/ilhabela6.htm
In English.

Poss

Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of "Thomas"
<[email protected]> :

    >> Speaking English:
    >> It is often said that the French, particularly Parisians, either can
    >> not or will not speak English. This seems to have changed. Both
    >> herself and I speak French moderately well, albeit not quite fluently.
    >> In our hotel, in restaurants, in cafés, and in shops we found that
    >> almost everybody with whom we dealt switched into English even when it
    >> was clear that our command of French was sufficient for the purpose,
    >> and where sometimes their English was less good than our French. So
    >> the new complaint seems to be that the bloody Parisians won't speak
    >> French.
    >France, more specifically Paris has always been like this. If you make the
    >effort, and the person you are talking too reckons they can speak English
    >better than you can French, they will speak back in English. However if you
    >just Grunt something in English, they mostly, even if they speak fluent
    >English, will refuse to speak it.

Friend and I stayed in a little village in the middle of France where
very few people spoke English and I only had schoolgirl French (and
high school was a long time ago!). My friend ordered steak tartare in
a restaurant where no one spoke English and the waitress was very
concerned that my friend didn't realise that the steak was raw.

She brought it out and showed it to him and he reassured her, using
lots of nods and thumbs up, that he did know what he was ordering.

This was our first night in France and set the tone for future
transactions. The only rudeness we encountered was in a gift shop in
the Eiffle Tower. We asked where the Post Office was and got a grunt
in return.

We got very adept at arriving in strange towns, going to the hotel and
asking for 'chambre avec deux lits'. And ordering 'deux biers'. We
ordered a lot of those!

Des O'Donoghue

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
    > Not having been to Paris for a while, herself and myself grabbed a
    > bargain offer and betook ourselves to the city of light for a short
    > break. We had no plan, no programme -- just to be in Paris would
    > suffice.


STOP !

Please don't continue. think of those of us who acan't et abroad right now
(though I have a 2 hour visit to paris scheduled for September).

Don't go any further, don'tr mention nice food, don't mention that the
Parisians (like anyone else) help you once you make an effort to talk their
lingo, don't mention their cheap wine.. or their kebabs or .....

Oh yeah - don't mention that they like kids...

Ken Blake

In news[email protected],
devil <[email protected]> typed:

    > On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:41:51 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:

    >> I've always assumed that the word "garoupa" (which I've seen
only
    >> in Chinese restaurants; I didn't know it was Brazilian) was
    >> simple a common Chinese misspelling of "grouper." Am I wrong?
Is
    >> there actually a distinct fish with that name?
    > There definitely is a garoupa in Brazil.


OK, thanks. Not to doubt you, but if you have a reference
(perhaps a web site) confirming this, I'd appreciate seeing it.


    > Which does not necessarily
    > mean that the garoupa in your Chinese restaurant was not a
    > misspelling of grouper. Or were the restaurant owners from
Brazil?


No, not *one* Chinese restaurant. I've seen it on the menu in
many of them.


--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Ken Blake

In news:[email protected],
Magda <[email protected]> typed:

    > On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 13:41:51 -0700, in rec.travel.europe, "Ken
Blake"
    > <[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so
they
    > looked like this :
    > ... I've always assumed that the word "garoupa" (which I've
seen only
    > ... in Chinese restaurants; I didn't know it was Brazilian)
was
    > ... simple a common Chinese misspelling of "grouper." Am I
wrong? Is
    > ... there actually a distinct fish with that name?
    > Yes, there is.
    > http://www.scubadiver.com.br/scubadiver/garoupa.html
    > No text in English, but a beautiful picture of the beast.
    > http://www.brasilny.org/turismo/ilhabela6.htm
    > In English.


Yes, thanks. That seems pretty clear. I guess I've been wrong
about it all these years.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Thomas

    > >> Speaking English:
    > >> It is often said that the French, particularly Parisians, either can
    > >> not or will not speak English. This seems to have changed. Both
    > >> herself and I speak French moderately well, albeit not quite fluently.
    > >> In our hotel, in restaurants, in cafés, and in shops we found that
    > >> almost everybody with whom we dealt switched into English even when it
    > >> was clear that our command of French was sufficient for the purpose,
    > >> and where sometimes their English was less good than our French. So
    > >> the new complaint seems to be that the bloody Parisians won't speak
    > >> French.
    > >
    > >France, more specifically Paris has always been like this. If you make
the
    > >effort, and the person you are talking too reckons they can speak English
    > >better than you can French, they will speak back in English. However if
you
    > >just Grunt something in English, they mostly, even if they speak fluent
    > >English, will refuse to speak it.
    > >
    > Friend and I stayed in a little village in the middle of France where
    > very few people spoke English and I only had schoolgirl French (and
    > high school was a long time ago!). My friend ordered steak tartare in
    > a restaurant where no one spoke English and the waitress was very
    > concerned that my friend didn't realise that the steak was raw.
    > She brought it out and showed it to him and he reassured her, using
    > lots of nods and thumbs up, that he did know what he was ordering.
    > This was our first night in France and set the tone for future
    > transactions. The only rudeness we encountered was in a gift shop in
    > the Eiffle Tower. We asked where the Post Office was and got a grunt
    > in return.
    > We got very adept at arriving in strange towns, going to the hotel and
    > asking for 'chambre avec deux lits'. And ordering 'deux biers'. We
    > ordered a lot of those!


Its just a myth that the French are rude.. of course there will be some rude
people just as there will be in any country in the world, but my experiences
with France suggest that as long as your a nice person, you will be treated
as such.. (Air France cusomer services excepted)

Thomas

    > What's wrong with mutton anyway? As to harissa, there is better one and
    > not so good one. It should not just be hot, but also have pepper flavor.

Nothing except it takes a Month to chew a Mouthfull.

Earl Evleth

On 25/07/04 6:32, in article [email protected], "Thomas"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > Its just a myth that the French are rude.. of course there will be some rude
    > people just as there will be in any country in the world, but my experiences
    > with France suggest that as long as your a nice person, you will be treated
    > as such.. (Air France cusomer services excepted)

Normal everyday encounters have a high degree of politeness, it is "Bon
jour, Monsieur" or Madame.

The one exception is the greetings I get at the news stand, "Bon jour
Monsieur Gaston". My dachshund's name is "Gaston" and so I have
become Monsieur Gaston. The 91 yr old man on the first floor of our
building is "Monsieur Jacques". So this is a first name basis
tied up with a more formal title "Monsieur"!

A less formal greeting is "ça va"? between friends, with the shaking of
hands nevertheless, unless one is very close and one does the two or
4 cheek touching greeting.

Rudeness is rare commercially.

However, blood sugar levels are low late afternoon and 30 years
of living here have convinced me that this is not the best
time to shop, too many people and the clerks might at times
be irritable. I am sometimes irritable before walking
into the store. At 72, like many older people, I do mouth off
and I am surprised that people are as tolerant as they are
to my own rude behavior. I try to keep in under control.

Service personnel often get bitched at and most learn to take it.
Particularly hard is that France has a lot of foreign visitors
and it is tiresome to try and deal with people who do not
know all the ways of doing things and can't really communicate
with you. I find it difficult dining with visiting American family and
friends and having to explain what is on the menu, what they can
order, etc etc. Also one has to do various "rescue" missions,
cards gobbled up the the ATM machines, illnesses, visits to
various stores and still another guided tour to some monument
one has seen 50 times. That is the down side, the up side
is seeing really happy tourists and visitors. Sales people
love a happy client leaving the store and it is not merely
because they left money. It is simple human sociability.
Some of those smiles are sincere.

Earl

Jeremy Henderson

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 23:41:32 +0000, devil wrote:

    > On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 22:07:06 +0100, Padraig Breathnach wrote:
    >
    >> Jeremy Henderson <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>
    >>>Speaking of which, I remember reading that "scampi" that you buy deep
    >>>fried in pubs is usually actually "monkfish". Supposing the dictionary is
    >>>correct, and "monkfish" is the stuff we buy as "lotte", that makes no
    >>>sense to me, snce lotte is delicious and scampi is ... well ... pub food.
    >> First, I (and my taste-buds) agree with your dictionary.
    >>
    >> I think the story about scampi is no longer true, that it goes back to
    >> a time when monkfish was not known and liked by many. Its hideous
    >> appearance counted against it, and it was then known as angler fish.
    >> It was more recently rebranded as monkfish.
    >
    > Scampi are supposed to be a prawn from the Adriatic. With round tail fans.
    > Best ones I ever had was in Rijeka in the early seventies, when Tito
    > was still alive and Yugoslavia still existed.
    >
    > Sounds like your pub was gauging you?

Could be - most Britons, me included, probably wouldn't know an Adriatic
prawn if it beat them on the head with a round fan tail.

J;

--
Encrypted e-mail address. Click to mail me:
http://cerbermail.com/?nKYh3qN4YG

Padraig Breathnach

"Des O'Donoghue" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Please don't continue. think of those of us who acan't et abroad right now
    >(though I have a 2 hour visit to paris scheduled for September).
Do you want the r.t.e. academy to work on an itinerary for a two hour
visit? Give us some indication of your range of interests -- fine
arts, popular culture, history, sport, gastronomy, what? We need to
know, because two hours is a short enough time, and you should plan
very carefully.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Magda

On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 05:34:59 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, "Thomas"
<[email protected]> arranged some electrons, so they looked like this :

... > What's wrong with mutton anyway? As to harissa, there is better one and
... > not so good one. It should not just be hot, but also have pepper flavor.
...
... Nothing except it takes a Month to chew a Mouthfull.

And many boxes of tissues to dry your tears.