Fake Christmas Trees

[md0]

Interesting take. I did looked it up now that you guys mentioned it:

The tradition was imported in Greece around the 1830s, by the German-born King of Greece.

Now, about Cyprus, an other source I could find says that "it took a century after Greece adopted the tradition for Cypriots to do the same", which, assuming that both sources agree on 1830, places Cyprus to 1930. And pretty much everyone currently alive was born after that, so noone is left to find that tradition 'foreign'.

But yeah, I am sure the English influence wasn't negligible. After all, every year every house buys this shit that noone really likes^[bias]. The Levantine, Greek and Turkish Cuisine are vastly superior even in Christmas

[mōdgethanc]

I'm pretty sure the entire part of the world that celebrates Christmas can agree that whatever other differences we may have, fruitcake is completely awful.

[md0]

Poutine with icing is probably better?

[mōdgethanc]

Poutine with icing is probably better?

Do not ever speak ill of poutine again.

[linguoboy]

I'm pretty sure the entire part of the world that celebrates Christmas can agree that whatever other differences we may have, fruitcake is completely awful.

1. Christmas pudding is not fruitcake.
2. Fruitcake is not awful.

I'm not saying this to be contrary; I used to hate fruitcake, too, but it turned out that (as with beer and beef), I'd simply had shitty fruitcake growing up. Good fruitcake is difficult to find and I'll never like as much as, say, Stollen or gingerbread, but it doesn't deserve its ill reputation any more than haggis does.

[md0]

Poutine with icing is probably better?

Do not ever speak ill of poutine again.

I was being quite serious actually

[mōdgethanc]

There are many, many toppings that can go on poutine, some weird, some wonderful, but frosting is not one of them.

Christmas pudding is not fruitcake.

When did I ever say it was? meidei said Christmas pudding is awful; I simply mentioned another Christmas food many people think is awful.

I'm not saying this to be contrary; I used to hate fruitcake, too, but it turned out that (as with beer and beef), I'd simply had shitty fruitcake growing up. Good fruitcake is difficult to find and I'll never like as much as, say, Stollen or gingerbread, but it doesn't deserve its ill reputation any more than haggis does.

I want to believe you, but I'm skeptical. However, I believe in keeping an open mind, so if I ever have fruitcake I like, I'll buy you a Coke sangria.

[Johanna]

Luckily both Christmas pudding and fruitcake are unheard of here, neither sound that appealing to me.

Also, Coke ceases to be the most sold beverage in December, losing the number one spot to julmust

[mōdgethanc]

Also, Coke seizes ceases to be the most sold beverage in December, losing the number one spot to julmust

Seize = grab, take hold of.

[linguoboy]

Luckily both Christmas pudding and fruitcake are unheard of here, neither sound that appealing to me.

Perhaps if they incorporated small oily fish in some fashion.

[Johanna]

Also, Coke [corrected] to be the most sold beverage in December, losing the number one spot to julmust

Seize = grab, take hold of.

Meh, really stupid typo

Or... they do both have a /z/ in the middle, right?

And even if they don't, it was still a typo, since for me [z] is just an allophone of /s/. I usually manage to pronounce them correctly though.

Luckily both Christmas pudding and fruitcake are unheard of here, neither sound that appealing to me.

Perhaps if they incorporated small oily fish in some fashion.

Thinking of pickled herring?

For me that's a summer thing, not a Christmas thing, and even if it's offered, the usual Christmas buffet is large enough for you to skip it.

[Dormouse559]

Or... they do both have a /z/ in the middle, right?

No, "ceases" is /ˈsiːsɪz/.

[linguoboy]

Thinking of pickled herring?

Or anchovies or sprats or lye-treated whitefish or whatever else makes a Scandinavian's mouth water.

[mōdgethanc]

Let's not stereotype. We all know no Swedish meal is complete without meatballs and blåbärssoppa, followed by snaps.

Meh, really stupid typo

Or... they do both have a /z/ in the middle, right?

I say "cease" with a /s/, but maybe other people say it with a /z/. There are other words that vary like that.

And even if they don't, it was still a typo, since for me [z] is just an allophone of /s/. I usually manage to pronounce them correctly though.

My total inability to tell the difference between /yː/ and /ʉ̟ː/ in your language makes me rather forgiving of things like this.

[Johanna]

Thinking of pickled herring?

Or anchovies or sprats or lye-treated whitefish or whatever else makes a Scandinavian's mouth water.

Anchovies? nah, don't think i've ever had that. Besides, the word looks French.

Lutfisk... pretty much forgotten in Sweden these days, I've only had it a few times and it has ranged from bland as hell to OK depending on the sauce. The fish itself doesn't taste much, so even together with a great sauce it can only reach "good".

Sprat... isn't that some cousin(s) to herring? Never heard of it anyway, had to use Wikipedia to get a clue.

[linguoboy]

Thinking of pickled herring?

Or anchovies or sprats or lye-treated whitefish or whatever else makes a Scandinavian's mouth water.

Anchovies? nah, don't think i've ever had that. Besides, the word looks French.

For serious? Every recipe I've read for Janssons frestelse calls for "ansjovis". (Although now that I look at the Wikipedia article, I see that "ansjovis" is actually made from sprats [skarpsill--so that explains why you associate it with herring] and what we call "anchovies" are known in Swedish as sardell.)

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

I think they're becoming more popular here, I also got one myself. They're cheaper, you can re-use them and they're considered to be better for the environment than killing a tree each year.

The thing is, those trees are raised to be killed. It's like with paper: People like to talk about how they're "saving trees" when over 90% of the trees used to produce pulp were planted explicitly for that purpose. If you use less paper (or buy fewer real Christmas trees), they'll just plant fewer, which is hard to spin as a net win for environmentalism.

Yeah, that's true Just said what the main opinion was over here, that's all. I think most people mostly buy an artificial one because that's much cheaper - or a real one for the 'real experience'.


Wait, is Dutch the only language where ansjovis ends with 'fish'. I mean: fish is vis in Dutch, so I assumed in English it would have been anshofish or something and in Swedish ansjofisk or whatever.

[Johanna]

For serious? Every recipe I've read for Janssons frestelse calls for "ansjovis". (Although now that I look at the Wikipedia article, I see that "ansjovis" is actually made from sprats [skarpsill--so that explains why you associate it with herring] and what we call "anchovies" are known in Swedish as sardell.)

I've had Janssons yes, but I'm not too fond of it, and I don't think it's been a part of the Christmas buffet for more than 70 years or so. But apart from that particular dish I don't think I've had either ansjovis or sardell.

[hedwards]

I'm pretty sure the entire part of the world that celebrates Christmas can agree that whatever other differences we may have, fruitcake is completely awful.

1. Christmas pudding is not fruitcake.
2. Fruitcake is not awful.

I'm not saying this to be contrary; I used to hate fruitcake, too, but it turned out that (as with beer and beef), I'd simply had shitty fruitcake growing up. Good fruitcake is difficult to find and I'll never like as much as, say, Stollen or gingerbread, but it doesn't deserve its ill reputation any more than haggis does.

The first fruitcake I ever had was a gift to my dad from a doctor and it was quite delicious. As a result, I only know that fruitcakes are terrible from culture references, I personally like a nice fruitcake.

As for the thread. In China, Christmas trees are relatively unusual, but when I was down south, I did see an entire parking lot full of fake trees and for a guy feeling very homesick, it made my month.

The Chinese don't really get Christmas, but in some ways they manage to nail the only aspect that really matters, the spirit. Well, the ones that observe it anyways. Most folks don't as it's a religious holiday for a religion they don't practice. Valentines day is the really big one.

[vijayjohn]

I'm not saying this to be contrary; I used to hate fruitcake, too, but it turned out that (as with beer and beef), I'd simply had shitty fruitcake growing up. Good fruitcake is difficult to find and I'll never like as much as, say, Stollen or gingerbread, but it doesn't deserve its ill reputation any more than haggis does.

I want to believe you, but I'm skeptical. However, I believe in keeping an open mind, so if I ever have fruitcake I like, I'll buy you a Coke sangria.

I think my mom's fruitcake is pretty good.