The rules of 'nicety' are indeed quite challenging, but necessary, as you know. I recall in France that formal letters to people end with the same stock sentence which reads something to the effect of <Madame, I hope that you see in these lines the expression of my deepest sentiments of respect and admiration and...> it goes on. It means nothing but it is always there. In my letters, I used to include all that garbage up to the and but finish my letters with my desire for the person to enjoy a sunshine filled afternoon in the park. I had more than one professor over time invite me to join them for lunch at the cafeteria of the university (the faculty had a special area in which to eat which was less grimy than the student section) just so they could tell me what a pleasant and unexpected surprise my letter had been in their day... and to let me know that my ending was so unexpected because no one ever changes the stock wording, even if it would be more appropriate to do so.
Loved this, start to finish! The writing is excellent, the storytelling deft, swift, interesting, your linguistic knowledge impressive and vast, and those
I am loving the stories that you share so much! This is the first recipe I've actually made and you know I'm not a natural or skilled cook so I'd love to ask a couple of questions that came up for me with the recipe. Mine came out okay but I made a few obvious errors. The first was I didn't have any frozen peas at my house so it was without the peas. Second I was in a rush and didn't peel the potatoes. No big deal. I could get most of the peel out after they were cooked but added to the time it took me to prepare so just a dumb mistake that happens when rushing. I was a little confused about the addition of the carrots, cabbage and peas. Those ingredients are added without being cooked first or do they go into the onion, garlic and ginger saute? I tried the air fry method but they didn't crisp enough at all. Any feedback is appreciated! Thank you my friend!! Miss you and your cooking very, very much!!
Hey Kim! Thanks so much!! No peas is not a big deal, but if you have to leave an ingredient out, you'll have to reduce the amount of salt in the dish. The carrots, cabbage, and peas all go in raw. The main reason I cook the onions, garlic, and ginger a wee bit is so the kids won't make a fuss. With the carrots, cabbage, and peas, since they are small bits, the wee bit of cooking with the frying/air frying of the cutlets is sufficient to get them soft enough - besides, they are not unpleasant raw. Onions are, for a kid. Try air frying again - I was surprised at how good they turned out! Perhaps cook them on a slightly higher temp? I'm fairly new with the air fryer, so am enjoying experimenting with ours.
I’ll be glad to be a book reviewer when this blog is converted to Chandrika’s cookbook with sociolinguistic commentary! This is my favorite recipe so far. But the sociolinguistic writing that accompanies it is so very good reading.
I think it's time to introduce new directions of study. One of them I would call "intercultural openness". While it's wonderful to cultivate tradition skills, like the rangoli, it's time to learn to be less judgmental. This means, to be less quick with that annoying habit of judging people from different cultural backgrounds.
As your two examples have shown, appropriateness is a very narrow concept. My own cultural conditioning forced me to believe that I constantly have to judge, myself and others. But in the majority of cases, it's completely unimportant whether you do certain things in one way or another. I remember many conflicts when I was a child about whether you should wind out a dishcloth by twisting it into the right or the left direction. This is not even sociolinguistics; this is pettiness.
I believe that the world would be a much more pleasant place, if we had a clearer sense of which habits are important and which are not. As long as it is possible to treat members from another cultural community with respect, there is no limit to the creative solutions that can show that you care.
Couldn't agree with you more, Christa!! I think a basic sociolinguistics/pragmatics/intercultural communication course should be required - like part of a core curriculum.
The rules of 'nicety' are indeed quite challenging, but necessary, as you know. I recall in France that formal letters to people end with the same stock sentence which reads something to the effect of <Madame, I hope that you see in these lines the expression of my deepest sentiments of respect and admiration and...> it goes on. It means nothing but it is always there. In my letters, I used to include all that garbage up to the and but finish my letters with my desire for the person to enjoy a sunshine filled afternoon in the park. I had more than one professor over time invite me to join them for lunch at the cafeteria of the university (the faculty had a special area in which to eat which was less grimy than the student section) just so they could tell me what a pleasant and unexpected surprise my letter had been in their day... and to let me know that my ending was so unexpected because no one ever changes the stock wording, even if it would be more appropriate to do so.
James that was/is such a lovely thing to do!! And why not??!!
Loved this, start to finish! The writing is excellent, the storytelling deft, swift, interesting, your linguistic knowledge impressive and vast, and those
cutlets … ooh I really want to try them. Yum!
I am loving the stories that you share so much! This is the first recipe I've actually made and you know I'm not a natural or skilled cook so I'd love to ask a couple of questions that came up for me with the recipe. Mine came out okay but I made a few obvious errors. The first was I didn't have any frozen peas at my house so it was without the peas. Second I was in a rush and didn't peel the potatoes. No big deal. I could get most of the peel out after they were cooked but added to the time it took me to prepare so just a dumb mistake that happens when rushing. I was a little confused about the addition of the carrots, cabbage and peas. Those ingredients are added without being cooked first or do they go into the onion, garlic and ginger saute? I tried the air fry method but they didn't crisp enough at all. Any feedback is appreciated! Thank you my friend!! Miss you and your cooking very, very much!!
Hey Kim! Thanks so much!! No peas is not a big deal, but if you have to leave an ingredient out, you'll have to reduce the amount of salt in the dish. The carrots, cabbage, and peas all go in raw. The main reason I cook the onions, garlic, and ginger a wee bit is so the kids won't make a fuss. With the carrots, cabbage, and peas, since they are small bits, the wee bit of cooking with the frying/air frying of the cutlets is sufficient to get them soft enough - besides, they are not unpleasant raw. Onions are, for a kid. Try air frying again - I was surprised at how good they turned out! Perhaps cook them on a slightly higher temp? I'm fairly new with the air fryer, so am enjoying experimenting with ours.
I’ll be glad to be a book reviewer when this blog is converted to Chandrika’s cookbook with sociolinguistic commentary! This is my favorite recipe so far. But the sociolinguistic writing that accompanies it is so very good reading.
Cathy, thanks so much for your incredibly kind words!!
I think it's time to introduce new directions of study. One of them I would call "intercultural openness". While it's wonderful to cultivate tradition skills, like the rangoli, it's time to learn to be less judgmental. This means, to be less quick with that annoying habit of judging people from different cultural backgrounds.
As your two examples have shown, appropriateness is a very narrow concept. My own cultural conditioning forced me to believe that I constantly have to judge, myself and others. But in the majority of cases, it's completely unimportant whether you do certain things in one way or another. I remember many conflicts when I was a child about whether you should wind out a dishcloth by twisting it into the right or the left direction. This is not even sociolinguistics; this is pettiness.
I believe that the world would be a much more pleasant place, if we had a clearer sense of which habits are important and which are not. As long as it is possible to treat members from another cultural community with respect, there is no limit to the creative solutions that can show that you care.
Couldn't agree with you more, Christa!! I think a basic sociolinguistics/pragmatics/intercultural communication course should be required - like part of a core curriculum.