December 12, 2024

"By the way, do you want hors d’oeuvres or anything?"

Said Trump, quoted in "Read the Full Transcript of Donald Trump’s 2024 Person of the Year Interview With TIME." 

I corrected the spelling of "hors d’oeuvres." TIME wrote "hors d’Oevres." I think it's funny, both Trump suddenly offering hors d’oeuvres and TIME, which would probably jump at any chance to portray Trump as dumb or lowly, not managing to spell "hors d’oeuvres" correctly in a written transcript. Come on! If there's one spelling you've got to know you need to check before publishing, it's "hors d’oeuvres." 

This is my second post today about Trump tending to the food needs of his guests. Isn't that nice?

ADDED: It's also funny that he used the phrase "hors d’oeuvres." Why wouldn't everyone, by now, just say "appetizers"? Maybe to someone paying close attention to catering, hors d’oeuvres conveys food to be taken up with the fingers and not needing a plate. It's outside of the meal, not the first course of a meal. One might stick to the silly old phrase for precision, but I like to think Trump used it to be disarming to his guest, the TIME interviewer, to create a spelling challenge (which TIME failed), and to call out to onlookers like me who are listening for verbal music.

40 comments:

gilbar said...

Trump seems like a Genuinely NICE man.. which is One of the many reasons, the lefties HATE him

Original Mike said...

I thought it was spelled hors d'œuvres.

robother said...

A Time-ly tip: it helps you to spell it correctly if you pronounce it as an Ugly American, rather than in the original French.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"which would probably jump at any chance to portray Trump as dumb or lowly"

"Donald Trump Offers His Guests Horse Ovaries In Disgusting Display Of Elitism And Decadence" - Time

Ann Althouse said...

"it helps you to spell it correctly if you pronounce it as an Ugly American...."

But you'll still miss that "u."

TIME managed to capitalize the "O" though. That's going out of their way to get it wrong. Did they think "Oevres" was somebody's name? At least they didn't write "whores."

Narr said...

Them are good eatin'.

Former Illinois resident said...

As grandpa used to say: bring the or'dors!

Narayanan said...

Trump knows to sell dog food dogs must like it

Mary Beth said...

Horse de overs.

I remember the media mocking a politician for saying something about crudites. I can't remember who it was. Maybe Romney? Definitely a Republican. Or, at least one playing the role of a Republican. Everyone acted as though it was some weird word that no one uses.

Ignorance is strength.

Narayanan said...

"Donald Trump Offers His Guests Horse Ovaries In Disgusting Display Of Elitism And Decadence" - Time
============
me wants me ssum rocky mountain oysters!!!

Butkus51 said...

Hitler served them too.

tcrosse said...

A smart manœuvre in the Trumpian œuvre.

Amadeus 48 said...

So, we are never going to get the full Kamala 60 Minutes interview transcript, are we? That is the mark of a flawless campaign.

JaimeRoberto said...

It was Dr. Oz.

Dr Weevil said...

Why capitalized? One of the commonest uses of the French plural 'oeuvres' is in the phrase 'Oeuvres Complètes', "Complete Works", where it would naturally be capitalized on the cover of a book - or set of books, for more voluminous (get it?) authors.

Dixcus said...

They're still typing up TANG memos. They'll get to her, sheesh bro.

Dixcus said...

^ Thread

Original Mike said...

Dadgum, that Trump feller IS Hitler!

wild chicken said...

Time probably has a diverse staff though

Rabel said...

"This is my second post today about Trump tending to the food needs of his guests. Isn't that nice?"

The Chef in "The Menu" did too.

Didn't work out so well for them.

mccullough said...

He offer them some McDonald’s?

BUMBLE BEE said...

I'd wager that "The Beef" at the boss's guests' table at Mar-a-Lago was tasty!

BUMBLE BEE said...

Seconded.

Meade said...

LITERALLY!!!

mezzrow said...

"let's just say hors d'oeuvre..."

Martin Mull - Hors D'Oeuvre (1972)

Jamie said...

Back in college, my husband and I, before we started dating, were a meal team for our senior field camp (in geology). We decided to bring some kind of kabobs and pita, plus crudites as a veggie. I knew how to pronounce "crudites" because I was an insufferable language snob. My husband knew how to pronounce it because he spoke French. One of our fellow students insisted on pronouncing it "CROO- d-[eye]-tes." It was funny.

le Douanier said...

I like Benioff. Though he does seem to like trashing Microsoft too much sometimes. IMHO.

Anthony said...

hors d'potatœu

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Trump best embodies the Christian spirit of forgiveness. How he can make nice with Biden, Clinton and Schumer after what they did to him and everyone around him is beyond my understanding. Look how shitty Biden and Harris and their spouses are to each other. Trump on the other hand sits down and smiles at Dokter Jill and has a nice conversation with Chuck Schumer and promises he won't go after Liz Cheney... To forgive these scumbags who tried to have him murdered is Christ-like. Trump is a 21st century Jesus.

Aggie said...

Horse Devours

Narayanan said...

crudites for erudites elites

Skeptical Voter said...

I'm a deplorable. I always thought of them as Horse Doovers.

traditionalguy said...

Eureka! Suddenly Trump is being seen as the brilliant communicator that he’s always been. The intense dark smoke screen of media Trump hate propaganda hiding that fact has blown away. It’s like a national brain washed pile of pure BS claiming Trump is a mean, nasty guy has gone poof and disappeared.

Saint Croix said...

Easy on the blasphemy, Mike.

Ann Althouse said...

"I thought it was spelled hors d'œuvres."

Not in English, based on this explanation in Wikipedia: "Hors d'œuvre in French literally means 'outside the work', that is "not part of the ordinary set of courses in a meal". In practice, it is a dish which stands on its own as a snack or supports the main course. The French spelling is the same for singular and plural usage. In English, the typographic ligature ⟨œ⟩ is usually replaced by the digraph ⟨oe⟩ and two plural forms are acceptable: "hors d'oeuvre" (same as singular) or "hors d'oeuvres.""

Danno said...

When championship teams visit, a stack of Big Macs were on the table.

RMc said...

If there's one spelling you've got to know you need to check before publishing, it's "hors d’oeuvres."

I always spell it "horse d'ovaries", and pronounce it accordingly.

RMc said...

Well, the man did used to work there.

Marcus Bressler said...

Jamie, I am one of those people who knows how to spell most words but doesn't always know how to pronounce them. Before the internet could help, unless I heard it on TV or in a movie, uncommon words' pronunciation was unknown to me. I read recently that that autodidacts (I consider myself one in that most of my learning / education came from a tremendous amount of reading) have that trait. I always say, when someone corrects me, that I know how to spell 'em, just not how to say 'em..

Tina Trent said...

You must be a cat person.