ronnie_suburban wrote:I'm not offended because it never occurred to me to be offended. As a former Evanston resident (1988-1996) and a former season ticket holder to N.U. Men's Basketball games -- and a Deadhead for the past 30+ years-- Byrdsong and Birdsong are 2 very different things to me. I never even associated the two.

My opinion is my own and wasn't swayed by a free beer. I've never even been to Temperance Brewing and have no horse in this race (though, I did have one of their beers once). I just hate when overly sensitive people go out of their to be offended by something. It's political correctness run amok.

=R=

I was neither looking to be offended nor to uphold political correctness, be it running amok or strolling calmly. But thank you for making the following crystal clear:

Whereas I understand that you have a strong association of the word with a song by a terrible band for burnouts and rich northshore hippies (maybe they're called "traders" now?), you on the other hand seem incapable of understanding that your association might not be shared by people without a similar background or who lack knowledge of the murders of two people (one very near the business) and shootings of many others. To each their own. I can dig it. And I can choose not to drink the beer. I really don't care if you do, though. In fact, I hope you enjoy it and it brings back fond memories of Jerry. And I bet it'll be on the house. Peace.

Disagree, ultimately this is a food discussion site, yet in almost every instance you come here wanting discuss everything but food, probably to stir up tensions with people you never intend to meet, or perhaps to get a discount on expensive byo restaurants. I find as much value in such posts as I do in learning about deals on kitchens in Liverpool, or wherever site spam comes from.

As for the debate, I see both sides but I suspect you only like to prolong the discussion to annoy. Might I suggest devoting a future post to a restaurant you like and want to encourage people to visit . . . what a novel concept.

Hey man, we all can't be sycophants.

disagree wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I'm not offended because it never occurred to me to be offended. As a former Evanston resident (1988-1996) and a former season ticket holder to N.U. Men's Basketball games -- and a Deadhead for the past 30+ years-- Byrdsong and Birdsong are 2 very different things to me. I never even associated the two.

My opinion is my own and wasn't swayed by a free beer. I've never even been to Temperance Brewing and have no horse in this race (though, I did have one of their beers once). I just hate when overly sensitive people go out of their to be offended by something. It's political correctness run amok.

=R=

I was neither looking to be offended nor to uphold political correctness, be it running amok or strolling calmly. But thank you for making the following crystal clear:

Whereas I understand that you have a strong association of the word with a song by a terrible band for burnouts and rich northshore hippies (maybe they're called "traders" now?), you on the other hand seem incapable of understanding that your association might not be shared by people without a similar background or who lack knowledge of the murders of two people (one very near the business) and shootings of many others. To each their own. I can dig it. And I can choose not to drink the beer. I really don't care if you do, though. In fact, I hope you enjoy it and it brings back fond memories of Jerry. And I bet it'll be on the house. Peace.

LMAO! You've painted quite a fantastical picture. But if the sweeping generalizations make it easier for you to get through life, more power to you. I have no opinion about their beer but I know I won't form one based on a homonym, either. But hey, if that's enough for you (and others), then Temperance will likely hear the criticism and respond to it. It truly will be a matter of perception, how widely shared this particular one is and how much the brewery ends up caring about it.

Some of us see countless shades of gray where others see only black and white. And so it goes . . .

=R=

I just think it's a mistake in context. Others have as well. I understand that others might not.

At any rate, I'm off to go try to get discounts at restaurants and start fights. I won't say mean things about restaurants that you all like. If BR wants to know why I wanted my money back at El Ideas, you can PM him the details.

disagree wrote:I won't say mean things about restaurants that you all like.

Responding to this against my better judgment.

It's been a long time around here since anyone felt afraid to criticize a restaurant that was an LTH favorite. Which is one of the things I like about LTH.

riddlemay wrote:I will never enter a restaurant whose name contains a misplaced apostrophe.

Okay, the one on Wells is off limits, but are you boycotting the other locations that (as far as I can tell) use apostrophes correctly?

Lou Malnatis' (a/k/a Lou Malnati's)
439 N Wells St
Chicago
312-828-9800

Edited to restore photo link.

Rene G wrote:Okay, the one on Wells is off limits, but are you boycotting the other locations that (as far as I can tell) use apostrophes correctly?

I will evaluate all locations on a case-by-case basis.

The thing that annoys the crap out of me is when a business uses a foreign language on their sign and/or business name and there's a glaring mistake. Like Bistro Campagne, that has a big sign in their window that I pass at least twice a week, saying "FERMÈ". Assuming that's supposed to be French, it's Fermé. Do a google search, people.

CharlotteBeth wrote:...has a big sign in their window that I pass at least twice a week, saying "FERMÈ". Assuming that's supposed to be French, it's Fermé.

And you'd stop and tell them, but il est fermé. And you don't notice the problem when ouvert.

JoelF wrote:

CharlotteBeth wrote:...has a big sign in their window that I pass at least twice a week, saying "FERMÈ". Assuming that's supposed to be French, it's Fermé.

And you'd stop and tell them, but il est fermé. And you don't notice the problem when ouvert.

Indeed

CharlotteBeth wrote:

JoelF wrote:

CharlotteBeth wrote:...has a big sign in their window that I pass at least twice a week, saying "FERMÈ". Assuming that's supposed to be French, it's Fermé.

And you'd stop and tell them, but il est fermé. And you don't notice the problem when ouvert.

Indeed

And of course, the real problem is not simply that it annoys people who know French, it's that it sends out a signal of inauthenticity when the intention is the opposite. Using the French word for "closed" is obviously an attempt on the restaurant's part to signify, whimsically, "Our cuisine is an authentic representation of France." Instead, the blunder raises the question, "If they can't attempt a representation of a single French word without making a mistake that anyone who has ever taken high school French can call them on, what hope is there that their cooking will be any more correct?" They really should fix that.

Yes, it says, "I'm pretty sure French cuisine is something like this, but I didn't actually check."

I lol every time the Browntrout thread is bumped because i'm 8 years old

CharlotteBeth wrote:Yes, it says, "I'm pretty sure French cuisine is something like this, but I didn't actually check."

They must have hired the person who named "Au Cheval" "Au Cheval".

Roger Ramjet wrote:

CharlotteBeth wrote:Yes, it says, "I'm pretty sure French cuisine is something like this, but I didn't actually check."

They must have hired the person who named "Au Cheval" "Au Cheval".

Good point.

riddlemay wrote:

Roger Ramjet wrote:

CharlotteBeth wrote:Yes, it says, "I'm pretty sure French cuisine is something like this, but I didn't actually check."

They must have hired the person who named "Au Cheval" "Au Cheval".

Good point.

Interesting. I did not know that "oeuf à cheval" meant an egg on top of a dish. The more general idiom is "etre à cheval," literally, to be on horseback*, to be astride, and figuratively, to be a stickler, to take something really seriously. So A Cheval (not Au Cheval) wouldn't be a bad name for a French restaurant that takes what it does very seriously. Except that Au Cheval isn't a French restaurant. Guess they just liked how it sounds and like putting eggs on things. To their credit, they do have it spelled right ("Cheeseburger A Cheval") on their menu.


*So -- I did not know this either, just looked it up -- "devils on horseback" and "angels on horseback" sound pretty cool in French: "diables à cheval" and "anges à cheval," respectively.

riddlemay wrote:I will never enter a restaurant whose name contains a misplaced apostrophe.

Okay, the one on Wells is off limits, but are you boycotting the other locations that (as far as I can tell) use apostrophes correctly?

Lou Malnatis' (a/k/a Lou Malnati's)
439 N Wells St
Chicago
312-828-9800

riddlemay wrote:I will evaluate all locations on a case-by-case basis. [smile emoji]

That errant apostrophe on Wells wasn't an isolated oversight. In case the mistake on their Gold Coast sign isn't obvious enough, it's highlighted by a giant arrow!

1120 N State




Dead to you, too? Your no-go list continues to grow. I did a quick image search of the ten city locations and found five with the same problem: 4340 N Lincoln, 958 W Wrightwood, 1120 N State, 429 N Wells, and 6456 S Cicero. Perhaps it's time to consider boycotting the entire chain until they get their apostrophes under control.

All five offending signs are vertical, but are somewhat different, so apparently were designed separately. You'd think management would carefully check the text – not even twenty letters! – before spending a lot of money on incorrect signage. From what I've seen, all their horizontal signs use apostrophes correctly. Interestingly, a single location gets it right on their vertical sign.

805 S State


If you continue to patronize Lou Malnati's, maybe you should take all your business to their South Loop location to show your appreciation of proper punctuation.

Youve NEVER been to Temperance?!?!
Get there!
Also I have been trolled by the poster "disagree", about Temperance Brewing in fact. I posted that I liked their beer, he said their beer was bad and they must have deep pocket investors, and then a few months later they won a Great American Beer Festival award. Disagree couldnt argue after that!

Rene G wrote:

riddlemay wrote:I will never enter a restaurant whose name contains a misplaced apostrophe.

...If you continue to patronize Lou Malnati's, maybe you should take all your business to their South Loop location to show your appreciation of proper punctuation.

Damn. The one by me is one of the offenders. Wonder if the South Loop will deliver to Lakeview? (They should. There's a South Loop Market at Sheffield and Wellington. )