"Sesame Aware"

[Martin Kaminer]

At one of our kid's birthdays I put a sign on the door warning parents
visiting for the first time that our (legendarily clamorous) household is a
veritable "nut zone".


On Fri, Oct 4, 2013 at 9:38 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Sesame Aware"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Oct 4, 2013, at 9:23 AM, Martin Kaminer wrote:
>
> > "REMINDER: The Heschel School is a nut/peanut/sesame aware school.
> > Students should not bring or eat food items containing these
> > ingredients.  Please make sure your child's school snacks are nut,
> > peanut, and sesame free.  Many thanks for your attention to this
> > matter."
> >
> > I must admit it sounds more mellifluous than the alternative "Nut-Free
> Zone"
> >
> Perhaps so, but it does seem as though "aware" is a bit of an
> understatement (or even euphemism) for what amounts to a banning.
>  "Sesame-wary"?
>
> I suppose "nut/sesame-free" zone, besides the unwanted ambiguity you
> rightly suggest, is too insulting to the offending items (and indirectly to
> those who consume them), alluding to smoke-free, drug-free, et al. But I
> see there are lots of hits for "nut-free" in other contexts, the first hit
> being for the Nut-Free Mom blog.
>
> LH
>
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