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Degustation

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2013 11:08 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• degustation •

Pronunciation: di-gê-stay-shên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. To savor small portions of several items on a menu. 2. To savor in small bites.

Notes: Today's Good Word is seldom encountered in the US, though it is popular in several European languages: German Degustation, Italian degustazione, Portuguese degustação, Spanish degustación—even Russian degustaciya. It brings with it an adjective, degustatory, and a personal noun is degustator. We have our choice of two verbs, degust or degustate.

In Play: We usually find this word in the menus of restaurants that offer a degustation of dishes: "The degustation at the new restaurant convinced Hardy Belcher that the poor preparation ran the gamut of the menu and he needn't return." However, we can use it in any situation where the phrase "a taste of" applies: "The boss made his son do a degustation of all the jobs in the company before making him vice president."

Word History: Today's Good Word was traced from French dégustation. French (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) inherited this word from Latin degustatio(n) "tasting", the noun from the verb degustare "to taste", comprising de- "down, reduce" + gustare "to taste". Gustare is based on the noun gustus "taste", which Italian turned into gusto "taste, relish", figuratively used to mean "enthusiasm". English borrowed the figurative sense of this word as its own gusto. Gustus comes from the same root that went into the making of Old English ceosan "choose" which is still available to English-speakers as choose. (Let's now thank a Good Word editor, Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira, whose name suggests he enjoys degustating olives, for suggesting today's tasty Good Word.)

Re: Degustation

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 7:23 am
by Slava
I think I'll pass on using either of the verbs. They don't quite float my boat, as the saying goes. Other may like them, though. After all, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 2:48 pm
by Philip Hudson
Although this thought realllly has nothing to do with degustation, I am reminded of someone's malapropism "Me Gusdusted." Who said that, Tonto to the Lone Ranger?

Re: Degustation

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 3:40 pm
by Slava
Me gus-dusted appears to have come from the Red Ryder comics, said by the character Little Beaver.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 5:54 pm
by Philip Hudson
Slava: You won the quiz. Your reward is the warm feeling of accomplishment you have. It was indeed Little Beaver, comic strip Red Ryder's sidekick. Did you remember it, or did you have to Google it? If you remembered it, why? I have no idea why I remembered it.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 6:25 pm
by Slava
I'm not old enough to remember it, so I did have to look it up. And, yes, I did end up using the G-word, as Wahoo wouldn't even allow me to use quotes to force the phrase. That search engine would turn it into foreign words for translation. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Me and them. It's been how long and I still haven't figured out the syntax of how to do a search? :evil:

To expound on my reasons for not liking the suggested verbs, let's face it, degust needs an "is" instead of the "e". The second, well there's just nothing going for it.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 7:29 pm
by MTC
Clever about "de gustibus," Slava.

As for "degustation," this word has been commandeered by the foodies, and has a decidedly snobbish flavor, if you'll pardon the pun. For a sample foodie blog complete with degustations see
http://degustingdiary.wordpress.com/aut ... ry/page/8/

In a sense Dr. Goodword serves up verbal degustations for our delectation. Every day something new.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2013 7:48 pm
by Slava
Ah, MTC, you feel that degustation now smacks of snobbery, eh?

Re: Degustation

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:38 am
by MTC
Have I stepped on someone's olfactory glands? Made a remark in bad taste?

New Definition

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 6:14 am
by Slava
Degust, v. t.:
  • 1. Knock the wind out of;
    2. Knock the wind out of someone's sails;
    3. (Sailing vessels) Becalm.
MTC, just in case you are actually concerned, I was simply nibbling at the edges of humor.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 6:46 am
by call_copse
As in, Team Oracle really degusted the Kiwis in the recent America's Cup?

I'll readily agree with Slava on this one, I would feel that I might, correctly, be roundly mocked as overly pretentious to offer up 'degust' as a verb during a conversation with most people I know. Degustation is OK in the correct context I guess though I don't see it coming up for myself - OK, I have had a tasting menu once in my life.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:14 am
by LukeJavan8
Me gus-dusted appears to have come from the Red Ryder comics, said by the character Little Beaver.


Loved that show. Especially Little Beaver. I was in my
Cowboy and Indian Days, and I wanted to be the Indian.

Re: Degustation

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 10:15 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Thanks for reminding me of little beaver. I hadn't thought of him for years, and seldom of Red Ryder.