Date:  Fri, 19 Jan 1996 14:40:47 -0500

From:  Benjamin Barrett <Gogaku[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GNN.COM>

Subject: Re: Family restaurant



>Date:     Tue, 16 Jan 1996 06:57:57 +0900

>From: Jeremy Whipple <jwhipple[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GOL.COM>



>Does "family restaurant" convey the same meaning as _famirii resutoran_? If

>not, how might one render the latter in English?



Though probably too late for Jeremy, I got answers from the American Dialect

Society e-mail list members. As people who posted seemed to agree "family

restaurant" is okay, I waited until everything was in to post the answers.

Eight people responded.



Amusingly to me, I used Denny's as an example, but about 50% or more of the

respondents said family restaurant is okay, but I wouldn't apply it to

Denny's/I wouldn't take my family there, etc. !)



Family-style was seen by a few to be like Chinese or Basque where the food

is served in the middle of the table, and everyone grabs.



This seems to be one of those cases, as one person mentioned, where a

generic term is used in Japanese (suupaa for grocery store/supermarket), but

the name of the place is used in English (Safeway, etc.) and the generic

term is lost or buried.



Thanks to the respondents (in my computer's mixed up order):

Natalie Maynor

Beth Lee Simon

Bethany Dumas

Gregory Roberts

Ronald Butters

Vicki Rosenzweig

Dan Moonhawk Alford

Marla Broom