this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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"Fry" is an ambiguous word in English (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by NorthWestWind@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Here are 3 examples:
Fried egg, fried rice, fried chicken

All these "fry" are different. If you were to use the "fry" in fried rice to fry an egg, you'd get scrambled egg. Fried chicken is done by submerging it in oil, which you won't do with fried egg or fried rice.

This post is made from the perspective of a Cantonese/Chinese speaker. We have different words for these different types of "fry" (煎, 炒, 炸 respectively)

(Turns out I did post it in the wrong sub and I didn't realize, and now I feel very stupid. Photon UI has once again screwed me over. Got mad for no reason.)

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[–] sxan@midwest.social 12 points 4 months ago

I think y'all are missing the point. OP points out that in their native language, Cantonese, they have different words for each of these kinds of cooking. In English, we apply modifiers, if anything; "deep fry", "air fry", but we don't have different words for the different types of frying.

That's all they're saying. Eskimo words for snow. Oregonian words for rain. Georgian words for "you're an idiot." Apparently, in Cantonese, they have a lot of different words for different types of frying.