"barbecue pit"

[Wilson Gray]

A:  Patio furniture.

I heard it in a straight-to-cable movie about a guy who's striving to
recall the answer to the Italian equivalent:

Q:  Why don't Italians grill their food?

-Wilson

On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 1:41 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "barbecue pit"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 8/15/2008 12:44 PM, Charles Doyle wrote:
>>If y'all can stomach one more note on the subject:  My Northern
>>inlaws commonly say something like, "I'll just throw some burgers on
>>the barbecue"--using "barbecue" to designate the portable grilling
>>device. Perhaps "barbecue" in that sense represents a clipping of
>>(northern) "barbecue pit"--the kind that may be wielded as a weapon?
>
> As a Northerner, I would take it as a clipping of "barbecue grill".
>
>>Or just a metonomy in its own right.
>>
>>BTW: I believe that in the South, "hamburger" is seldom clipped to
>>"burger" (though national restaurant chains are probably altering
>>that situation). Also, in the Southern dialects that I'm fluent in,
>>the seared fleshly disk inserted into a bun (with mayonaise,
>>lettuce, etc.) to constitute a hamburger would never itself be
>>called a "hamburger" (much less a "burger").  Sort of like "hotdog"
>>being the entire sandwich, not just the wiener.
>
> As for the seared fleshy disc and what it would be called, I cannot resist:
>
> Q:  What's Irish and stays out all night?  (Hint: in the back yard,
> near the barby.)
>
> Joel
>
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