frypan/frying pan
Beverly Flanigan
flanigan at OHIOU.EDU
Thu Feb 12 16:00:02 UTC 2004
One last follow-up (I hope): Just last night I saw two ads in a chain
store flyer for _skillets_, both flat, colored, and probably
teflon-coated. In fact, one was called a "French skillet," whatever that
means. As I wrote earlier, I suspect this is the current sales term, maybe
to make the items sound fancier or more modern than the frying pans our
mothers used. Avoiding the implications of frying is part of this too, I
think.
At 09:51 AM 2/12/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>>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
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