[WikiEN-l] Re: recipes

Thu Feb 26 00:13:01 UTC 2004

Peter Jaros wrote:

> On Feb 24, 2004, at 11:51 PM, Ray Saintonge wrote:
>
>> Peter Jaros wrote:
>>
>>> Giving a recipe for a particular chocolate cake would not serve to 
>>> describe chocolate cake.  If one recipe was particularly famous, 
>>> however, it might merit its own section (or possibly article; I'd 
>>> like to try *that* cake) where the recipe *would* be descriptive.  
>>> It's a subtle distinction, but an important one.  It comes through 
>>> to readers, if only in terms of a sense of the style.
>>
>> That's very patronizing of you.
>
> Sorry, I worded that poorly.  What I meant that the distinction may 
> not jump out at casual readers, but it sounds better nonetheless.  As 
> analogy, using the wrong word in a sentence and making the sentence 
> meaningless is obvious to even a casual reader, while using casual 
> language in a formal setting is often "felt" while not directly 
> noticed.  It can take a bit of working with a sentence to figure out 
> what in it sounds too casual (or too formal, or awkward, etc.).

I do get a little hot over these deletion issues. :-)

The expression that I found most patronizing  was "it might merit its 
own section".  I suspect that the subtleties between descriptive and 
prescriptive or between imperatiuve and indicative might not be 
meningful to the casual reader who wants to find out about a food and/or 
how to make it.  The technical detailsof chocolate cakes are not 
inherently controversial.  If different ways exist for making such a 
cake, the results of which is better can be entirely subjective.

Using a wrong word that gives the sentence a different meaning, rather 
than just making it meaningless can launch a discussion into a very 
different direction.  I confess to being quick to notice this kind of 
thing as I did with the earlier part of your previous post. 
 "Proscriptive" and "prescriptive" have almost contradictory meanings, 
but grammaticaly can fit equally well into the same context.  I couldn't 
pass up the opportunity.

Ec