Spelling mistakes, menu mishaps make dining out a lesson in vocabulary

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 17, 2003 by Pamela Parseghian

Many of the writers at Nation's Restaurant News were spelling-bee champs as children. So how a poor speller like me wound up surrounded by such big brains is beyond me. Luck helped.

But spelling in English isn't easy for most--a sampling of menus would reveal that. Then, when you add all the foreign languages that wind up on menus, the job of writing menus without mistakes gets tougher.

Actually, even our spelling-bee winners misspell a food word or two once in a blue moon. No one's perfect.

Recently, a city magazine reviewer wrote in an article that a restaurant's "deserts" were delicious. The mistake reminds me of a trick I learned from a grade school teacher, Mrs. Johnson. She said, "Remember, the word for the sweet is spelled with two s's, just like most people want at least two helpings of desserts." OK, I can relate to that. And I've remembered that silly trick all these years later.

Sometimes tricks help those of us with not-so-sharp spelling skills--and there appears to be many of us in the same boat, based on the number of mistakes found on restaurant menus.

To start off, "diner menu" is often used when "'dinner menu" is meant--or vice versa. Come to think of it, a "diner dinner menu" could go either way.

Often the funniest mistakes come from synonyms. A "hanger steak" got its name because it hangs. A hangar is where one puts an airplane.

Chefs' popular tartares featuring raw proteins--whether steak or tuna--sometimes are misspelled "tartar," like the sauce. Coincidentally, the cold mayonnaise-based sauce can be spelled as either "tartar" or "tartare," which is why proper spelling can get so confusing.

Did someone with a dry sense of humor purposely write, "veal medallions with capper sauce?" Probably not.

I once found "dolmades," the plural of the word "dolma," spelled like the mountains--"dolomites." My guess is the computer with an automatic spell-checker program changed that one.

From the same part of the world came "Calabria bread," although the region is more famous for its spicy cuisine than its bread. Perhaps "ciabatta bread" was what was served? The Italian region is more likely found in a computer dictionary than the lesser-known Italian bread.

I recently saw "collard greens seasoned with hammocks" on a menu. Of course, it must have been "ham hocks" that were intended, not the swinging beds that hang from trees

A common blooper is the omnipresent Caesar salad spelled many ways, such as "Ceasar'" and "Cesar."

Incorrect word choices are pretty common on all kinds of menus, too. For instance, I prefer "grilled cheese" sandwiches to the "grill cheese" I've seen offered. Food "marinates" in a "marinade," a liquid that rhymes with the word "lemonade."

I just can't help offering excuses. It's easy for me to sympathize because spelling in the English language often makes little sense.

"Amandine" is frequently misspelled as "almondine"--presumably because the main ingredient is almonds and the word is pronounced like "almondine."

Then, there was the double whammy: "turbo almondine." Could it be some kind of fast-swimming fish newly imported from a foreign country and prepared with a nut coating?

Sometimes less description is more, as was the case with the chef who wrote that the steak comes with "complimentary" black-pepper sauce. Aren't sauces usually free?

Then, there is the problem of coming up with more than one correct spelling for the same word. Sometimes my smart colleagues conduct long debates to determine the best way to spell a word. For instance, is it "meatloaf" or "meat loaf?" Is "cole slaw" one word or two? Do we spell "Parmesan" with a capital or lowercase "P"? Truth be told, all are correct, but using the same word consistently on the menu is key.