Jan
9
Flaming Yon
Filed Under Education
Sound it out. And if you still don’t get it, consider that it had an “$18.95″ price listed just before it on the local English pub’s daily specials board. Got it now?
That’s right; a young high-school drop out turned waitress was told to write “Filet Mignon” and came up with the phonetically similar, Flaming Yon. She is English born, but failed to finish her free public education here in America. All the while, all of my illusions of Europeans as being innately familiar with the languages and cultures of their European neighbors are forever shattered. How can I ever again believe that myth when one of them demonstrates that she does not recognize a French term for a select, and well-known, cut of beef? Sacrebleu!
The fellow who discovered the error, and had the staff correct the misspelling, attempted to give the girl cover by relating a story of how his then seven year old nephew had once marched in a parade for charity. When Jim asked the boy what he was marching for, the lad said, “sixty roses”. Naturally we can understand how a youngster could hear “Cystic Fibrosis” and corrupt that into words that were familiar to him, sixty roses. But how does that explain Emma’s mistake? After all, while “flaming” is a common enough word, what is a “Yon“?
Did she believe this special to be a spicy preparation of the loin of the Wild Blue Yon Deer?
We wracked our brains to understand.
Perhaps she intended to write “Flaming Jan”, believing that they were serving up a gay Swede? More likely yet, she recognized the chef’s words as a name he was giving to a boring dish of hot peppers, the “Flaming Yawn”, and then she simplified the spelling of the last word for artistic effect. Ah, a clever girl, that must be it.
Or, no bull here, maybe she is just a stupid girl. And maybe she had all the advantages of wealth and access to knowledge and maybe she failed to take advantage? But that would be stupid, and now I am repeating myself. Yes, that is the answer, it is eloquent in it’s simplicity, it must bee write.
that’s a hilarious story! I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t have similar experiences of my own. It’s becomming more common, I think.
Perhaps she was having a bad hair day, and the hair forced her to go off into the Wild Blue Yon Deer; combing, high, or just having fun?
No, she wasn’t having fun, she was quite embarrassed when her was told of her error.
You claim that Emma may be stupid, but have you considered that it was her boss’s or chef’s poor pronunciation of TWO words? (It’s not supposed to be pronounced FILETMIG NON!). If there’s one nation that can murder the spoken ENGLISH language, it’s the American nation. And your question – “what is a yon?” makes no sense. After-all, what is a Benedict? And funnily enough, some claim that Eggs Benedict is derived from the American mispronunciation of the term “Eggs à la Benedick.”
Dave, are you related to Emma? Addressing your defenses of cousin Emma in order: A) I do not claim that she “may” be stupid. B) You are assuming facts not in evidence when you try to blame the chef for Emma’s mistake. C) While filet mignon is two words, the first three syllable are often pronounced in rapid order and were no doubt heard as one word, while the fourth syllable requires use of a distinctively different part of the palate (palate is the roof of the mouth, I have not misspelled p-l-a-t-e) for pronunciation and there is a slight hesitation between the pronunciation of “mign” and “on” as one clears their tongue away from the front of their palate in order to say the “Y” sound. D)Your take on “what is a yon” makes no sense. From your example we see that “eggs” is a noun, and “Benedict” is an adjective describing the noun. Back to “flaming yon” then, we see that “flaming” is an adjective, thus “yon” would be the noun. Yet, you compare the noun “yon” and the adjective “Benedict”. Did you attend public school Dave? E)As for your history of eggs benedict, there seems to be some controvery as to its origin, but all of the contenders listed as its possible creator are American, and the “Eggs a la Benedick” name is an American creation as well. But, even if it were a French term which had become corrupted in the colonies, it would not be alone, there are many examples in which we drop such parts of speech as “a la” leaving the connection assumed rather than stated. Every European knows that about the American language.
Bonus: If you ever hear of a dish from my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky called the “Hot Brown“: A) Order it, it is delicious. B) Know that “Hot” is an adjective describing an open faced sandwich which originated at the historic Brown hotel in Louisville, and is named for the hotel. Brown is the noun here. This food would better relate as your example. In that comparison, “Flaming” is to “Hot”, as “Yon” is to “Brown”. Well, we all know what “flaming” and “hot” mean, and I have provided the definition for what “Brown” means in this use; so that begs the question yet again, what is a yon?
Rick, is Emma good-looking? Because she appears to no longer be “available”.
Emma is not good looking, and she claims to be playing for the other team as well, (if you get my meaning, if you catch my drift, wink, wink, nod, nod).
A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat! Say No MORE!
Richard, I had wondered whether responding to your article was justified, but I had to comment as I felt that your comments regarding Emma were unfair and somewhat inconsiderate. In fact, I only discovered your article after hearing an American gentleman on television mention filet mignon, and out of curiosity, I Googled “flaming yon”! I guess that makes me stupid too by your reckoning.
In answer to your response: A) No, I have no knowledge of an Emma even being distantly related to me. B) It seems that I may have misinterpreted your words; “maybe she is just a stupid girl”. So are you now claiming that she IS a stupid girl? C) I was not assuming that the dish was not pronounced clearly, I was merely asking you if you had considered that this may be the case. D) The fact that the first three syllables are often pronounced as one word (or in rapid order, as you put it), is no excuse for bad pronunciation. And even though one’s tongue may adopt a different position in one’s mouth for each syllable of the word “mignon”, a syllable is by definition an UNINTERUPTED segment of speech. E) I may be wrong here, but I thought “Benedict” was a proper noun, not an adjective. I was taught at (public?) school that adjectives were descriptive modifiers of nouns. Like “scrambled” or “poached” or “fried” for example. F) Regarding the “controvery” (I assume you meant controversy), if you read my text you will see that I stated that it was an American creation. But I do have to correct your description of the language you use; it’s officially the English language, not American. And finally, your bonus was no bonus at all. Comparatively “yon” is a noun, “Benedict” is a proper noun and “Brown”, in this instance, is also a proper noun.
I must beg to differ, in your instance, Benedict is comparable to scrambled or poached or fried; it is descriptive of the manner in which the eggs are prepared. Think in through again my friend.
Now, if you want to just feel that your are right, in place of being correct, you should avoid my reply, both here and previously. But, if you are honestly confused, then please let me help.
I admit that it was gratuitous for me to call her stupid, (and a careful examination of my words will show that such is the conclusion I reached), and it was gratuitous for me to ask if you are related with the consequent connection being that you are also stupid. Or, at least I thought it was gratuitous until you admitted that you also heard filet mignon and went looking for “flaming yon”; that is actually too coincidental to be credible. In all three instances it would have been possible to leave the correct reaction to the reader’s judgement, (unless you were the reader, I suppose).
You absolutely did not call Eggs Benedict “an American creation”, not true. What you did is twice note how Americans corrupt the English language. I also noted that corruption, I can it making the English language the “American” language, I hope the association is not too complex, or gratuitous, for your understanding.
I did misspell that word, “controvery”, it should have another letter in there as you say; you really got me on that one.
Look, this is a funny story, try to see it for what it is, and laugh along with the rest of us.