Bloody Well Write

For all you lovers of all things short (and I’m referring to language, not to those under 5′3″, such as yours truly), here’s a short-but-oh-so-sweet entry about two abbreviations that are often confused with each other.

i.e., = in other words. OK, really it means id est (which roughly translates to that is) in Latin. Always (always!) use a comma after the second period and, yes, always use both periods (i.e.,). Use i.e., for anything that may need to be expanded upon in a slightly different way in order for your meaning to be clear:

• My dog (i.e., the fur ball who sleeps in the crook of my knee) needs a bath.
• That chocolate cake (i.e., the one to the left — not to the right — of the cookies) tastes great with raspberry sauce drizzled on it.
• Your friend (i.e., the flight attendant with the bouffant hairdo) gave me two bags of peanuts.

The words following i.e., are alternate descriptions of the thing that comes before i.e., and are not simply examples of the early word(s). In the third example, I specify which friend of yours I am referring to; I am not assuming that you only have one friend but that you have this one particular friend to whom I am referring.

We loved eating the fresh gelato (e.g., tiramisu, white chocolate, blueberry swirl) in Italy (i.e., Venice and Rome) (photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cote/4163592189/sizes/m/in/photostream/)

e.g., = for example. In Latin, that’s exempli gratia. Use e.g., (again, always with the periods and always with the comma) when you’re expanding your explanation with an example, rather than an alternate or more-defined description:

• I love just about every kind of ice cream (e.g., chocolate peanut butter, coffee, vanilla bean, banana chocolate, raspberry, mocha) that has ever been created.
• Do you like Italian food (e.g., Insalata Caprese, rigatoni, gelato)?
• Running can be difficult (e.g., going into the wind, running with blisters, jogging in high humidity).

The words following e.g., are examples of the thing that comes before e.g., and are not suggesting any sort of limitation. For example (oy!), there are many Italian dishes, but I mentioned only three foods as examples of Italian food.

One way to remember the difference between the two is that e.g., sounds like example, and i.e., and in other words both start with the letter i.

Or you could just memorize which is which and be done with it. Good times.

Happy trails!

SAK

For those who don’t know me well, I will share this morsel with you:

I’m all about food.

Granted, I’m a pescetarian — someone who doesn’t eat land animals (e.g., chicken, cow, pig, sheep, etc.) — but I do eat seafood and fish, in addition to fruits, dairy products, grains and the occasional vegetable. And tomatoes? They’re OK, I suppose. I’ve eaten them my entire life but haven’t really been in awe of them.

Not, that is, until the past decade, when a friend introduced me to Insalata Caprese. Now, I’m hooked.

Insalata Caprese translates from Italian into English thus: salad from Capri. OK, so what does that mean? It’s a super-simple salad that consists of slices of fresh tomato (I like Roma tomatoes but any tomato that can be cut into relatively thick slices can work), slices of buffalo mozzarella and leaves of fresh basil, all layered and topped with ground pepper, salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

The simplicity of such a salad is deceiving, for the flavors unassumingly complement each other exquisitely. Popular variations include swapping olive oil for an Italian dressing or — my favorite — a balsamic vinaigrette or reduction.

Yummy.

Insalata Caprese (http://www.flickr.com/photos/79928508@N00/4487629379/)

I’m not sure if it’s just coincidence or if it’s the Italian way of imbedding national pride in the local cuisine, but the layered salad shares the same colors as the Italian flag. Sort of reminds me of a very American dessert made to look like the American flag, with white whipped topping, blueberries and raspberries.

Anyhoo, the point of this entry is to clear up the pronunciation issue surrounding this phenomenally simple first course. How the heck do you say Caprese?

From what I’ve gathered through personal accounts, Internet research and an unofficial survey of friends with decent vocabularies (!), it should be pronounced like this:

Ka-PREY-zay.

Now, dear Bloody Well Write readers: If you think that I’m blowing smoke and have it on authority from your great-grandmama (who’s from Capri or Naples (not Florida, BTW) or such) that it should be pronounced XYZ, then by all means, send me a message and I’ll revise this post. But as far as I know — and how I’ll be embarrassing myself in the future to all friends, family and complete strangers who will listen to me babble about the fantastic foods that I love — I’m saying Ka-Prey-zay Salad.

Happy trails!

SAK