frypan/frying pan

[Laurence Horn]

>Ditto for me. "Skillets" are cast iron.
>
>But I have noticed that "skillet" gets a lot of use on restaurant
>menus, perhaps
>to avoid the unhealthy association with "fried" food.

cf. "skillet corn bread", which is indeed baked in a cast-iron
skillet.  I'm wondering if the complementary distribution is partly
phonologically conditioned--"cast-iron frying pan" is just too many
syllables compared to "cast-iron skillet".

larry

>
>Quoting Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU>:
>
>>  That reminds me: I think I also use "skillet" with "cast-iron"; otherwise
>>  it's frying pan.
>>
>>  At 03:06 PM 2/11/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>>  >At 11:30 AM -0800 2/11/04, FRITZ JUENGLING wrote:
>>  >>Still mystified, as we use one almost every day.  Are we talking
>>  >>about different things?
>>  >>Fritz
>>  >
>>  >Are you talking about the kind of device that you plug in?  In the
>>  >old days, some apartments-- including one I lived in--and dorm rooms
>>  >allowed electric hot plates but had no stoves.  In particular, I was
>>  >living in the mid-1970s on the lower floor of a house in an area
>>  >zoned for one-family houses and the only legal kitchen was upstairs.
>>  >So we used an electric frying pan.  I remember them being especially
>>  >good for paella, but that was the last time I remember using one.  In
>>  >terms of NON-electric frying pans, I do call the black iron ones
>>  >"cast-iron skillets" or "frying pans".  The non-stick teflon ones are
>>  >frying pans, never skillets.
>>  >
>>  >Larry
>>  >
>>  >>
>>  >>>>>  flanigan at OHIOU.EDU 02/11/04 09:46AM >>>
>>  >>Both.  I was just joking about the electric kind, since I haven't seen one
>>  >>for years.  But with or without "electric," I would always say "frying
>>  >>pan"--never fry pan, or spider, or even skillet (unless maybe a clerk in a
>>  >>store used the last term, in which case I'd follow suit to accommodate
>>  >>her/him).
>>  >>
>>  >>At 09:27 AM 2/11/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>>  >>>I'm somewhat mystified by the question.  Maybe I have something else in
>>  >>>mind from what you are thinking.  Are you talking about the words 'frying
>>  >>>pan' or the object itself?  If the object, what do people use now
>>  instead?
>>  >>>Fritz
>>  >>>
>>  >>>  >>> flanigan at OHIOU.EDU 02/11/04 07:59AM >>>
>>  >>>Gee, does anyone still use electric fry(ing) pans?  If I did, it'd be
>>  with
>>  >>>-ing.
>>  >>>
>>  >>>At 07:43 AM 2/11/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>>  >>>  >Both my wife and I use 'electric skillet,' but neither of us uses
>>  >>>  >'skillet'  for the non-electric thingy.  That's a frying
>>pan--oddly not
>>  a
>>  >>>  >skillet.  But if I did have to use skillet, it would be for the old,
>>  >>>  >black, cast iron ones, not the shiney, stainless steel or aluminum
>>  >>> gadgets.
>>  >>>  >Fritz
>>  >>>  >
>>  >>>  > >>> faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU 02/11/04 06:49AM >>>
>>  >>>  >I have that same echo of "electric skillet" in my head, but can't
>>  >>>  >imagine where it came from, as "skillet" is one of those exotic terms
>>  >>>  >that I might have learned in the first dialectology unit in my intro
>>  >>>  >linguistics class.
>>  >>>  >
>>  >>>  >Dennis R. Preston said:
>>  >>>  > >Well I'm older than both of you (so you can imagine the incredible
>>  >>>  > >authority this must have). I began saying electric frying pan when
>>  >>>  > >the silly things were introduced, reduced it to electric frypan, and
>>  >>>  > >now use frypan exclusively to refer to the electric thing. A ringer
>>  >>>  > >in my usage may have been the fact that I had both skillet and
>>  frying
>>  >>>  > >pan before the electric goodies, and, if I recall correctly, had a
>>  >>>  > >slight preference for frying pan for the oldtime cast iron type and
>>  a
>>  >>>  > >slight preference for skillet for stainless steel, aluminum, and
>>  >>>  > >other instantiations of the genre. (No, didn't have no spiders.)
>>  >>>  > >Oddly, since the electric ones looked more like the latter, I never
>>  >>>  > >used electric skillet, although I understand it exists (or existed)
>>  >>>  > >and may have an echo of it in my head.
>  > >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >dInIs (whose echoes in his head seem to increase)
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >Sam Clements said:
>>  >>>  > >according to OED, notes that the electric implement's launch
>>  >>> prompted the
>>  >>>  > >use of "frypan".
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >  Is there a bifurcation like this in AmE? What is the status of
>>  >>> "frying
>>  >>>  > pan"
>>  >>>  > >nowadays?
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >I'm 59 and remember when "electric frypan" was a phrase in the
>>  >>> 1960's  I
>>  >>>  > >haven't heard it since.  And I'd bet that most Americans would say
>>  the
>>  >>>  same.
>>  >>>  > >And, you needed that "electric" before the word "frypan."
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >"Frying pan" is the only thing you hear in the last 25+ years.
>>  IMHO.
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >
>>  >>>  > >I'm a bit younger than you are, and I don't recall the electric
>>  >>>  > >version ever being called anything other than an "electric frying
>>  >>>  > >pan".
>>  >>>  >
>>  >>>  >--
>>  >>>
>>  >=========================================================================
>>  >>>  =====
>>  >>  > >Alice
>>  >>>  Faber
>>  faber at haskins.yale.edu
>>  >>>  >Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203)
>>  >>>  865-6163 x258
>>  >>>  >New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203)
>>  >>>  >865-8963
>>
>>
>
>
>--
>Dave Wilton
>dave at wilton.net
>http://www.wilton.net/dave.htm