Smashed potatoes . . .

[Charles Doyle]

Does "smashed" in general denote a lesser degree of (s)mashedness than "mashed"?

In my mother's low-country-Arkansas dialect, mashed potatoes were always "creamed potatoes" or "riced potatoes" (I know that latter term indicates a different manner of preparation).

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:10:14 -0500
>From: Hillary Brown <hillaryhazelbrown at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: Smashed potatoes . . .
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

>
>Was she leaving a lot of the skin on? That's the distinction between smashed and mashed, for me. Kind of an early 90s gourmet thing with the revival of comfort food, I think.
>
>hb
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In my experience, smashed potatoes are not equivalent to mashed potatoes.
The former are typically coarsely crushed, so that small lumps remain,
and often retain the skin.

Of course there might be eggcornish uses or other types of misunderstanding
as well.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED
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>
>On 1/12/07, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Yesterday the Food Channel's Rachael Ray was discussing "smashed potatoes."  I assumed the phrase was just another of her many annoying cuteisms.
>>
>> However, the phrase has a whopping 1,090,000 Google hits, in comparison with just 1,400,000 for "mashed potatoes."
>>
>> Does "smashed" represent a childish misunderstanding or mispronunciation of "mashed"?  I wouldn't have supposed the verb "mash" is any less transparent or intelligible than "smash."
>>
>> --Charlie

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