Althouse: "If I showed you a vignette of this, without any indication of where I am, you could have guessed Turkey, yes, maybe, but also Syria in better times..."

January 22, 2014

"If I showed you a vignette of this, without any indication of where I am, you could have guessed Turkey, yes, maybe, but also Syria in better times..."

"... or Lebanon or any other country that is so close to where I am that the habits of the people surely don't change just because some years ago a border was drawn between one group and the next."

(Scroll down for the photo of the 2 guys preparing some flatbread concoction.)

4 comments:

George M. Spencer said...: A "concoction" usually refers to a liquid.

Pizza would be the preferable term here.

Looks like he's doing a Mr. Spock mind-meld with it.; 1/22/14, 8:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: You made me look up "concoction" in the OED. The root of the word relates to digestion. For "concoct": "The literal sense in Latin was ‘to boil together, prepare (a mixture) by boiling or heat’, whence transf. ‘to digest in the stomach,’ and fig. ‘to digest or revolve in the mind’, and ‘to stomach or brook with the feelings’; also ‘to make ready with heat, ripen, mature’. Most of the Latin senses have been from time to time taken into English, where they have been increased by other fig., transf., allusive, and intermediate uses. The earliest English sense appears to be ‘digest’, but the only existing ones are 9 and 11."

The meanings under "concoct" and "concoction" aren't limited to liquids and include baking.

"1643 J. Steer tr. Fabricius Exper. Chyrurg. xiii. 49 The Patient [must] never eate, except the meat be first well concocted."

Even "decoct" has related to non liquid things:

"1657 R. Tomlinson tr. J. de Renou Medicinal Dispensatory 66 Flesh is decocted at the fire on a spit."; 1/22/14, 9:11 AM
Michael said...: This was a great post! I have not been to Turkey but everyone I know who has raves about it.

Professor Althouse, of course, would see no reason to visit.; 1/22/14, 1:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Professor Althouse, of course, would see no reason to visit."

I can see the reason, but I also see the downside.

Notice that much of Nina's post is about how delighted she is with the plane ride. To me, a plane ride can only be bad or worse. It's a negative, a big negative. If the activity of getting there is kind of a thrill for you, then the whole calculation is different.

Whenever I commit to a trip by buying plane tickets, the whole run-up to the trip feels bad and I wish I didn't have to go.

Other people buy tickets and then enjoy the run-up. It's exciting.

It's all only about how you feel, and I feel fine. I don't feel a desire to feel any better than I do on the most ordinary day.; 1/22/14, 2:03 PM