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28 May 2008

Loraine enjoys her quiche


On a recent outing for brunch my wife asked my mother whose name is Loraine if she had enjoyed her quiche, which happened to be Quiche Lorraine. Amusingly, the cadence of the words in the query might have made it unclear whether my wife actually addressed my mother by her name. The written question would have posed no problem (see further below). To my ear, the question sounded thus:

"Did you enjoy your quiche Loraine?"

Clearly, the pronunciation and intonation of "Loraine" made it obvious that my wife omitted the kind of quiche in favor of the name of the in law eating it who carried an equivalent name, though one spelled with only one "r." "Loraine" was spoken with an accent on the second syllable and with a rising vocal tone, yet with no noticeable pause between the words "quiche" and "Loraine." This lack of strong pause led to the possible confusion.

Had my wife asked the question in this way:

"Did you enjoy your Quiche, Loraine?" still with an accent on the second syllable, still with a rising tone in her voice, and with a slight pause between the words "Quiche" and "Loraine," there would have been no possibility of confusion. It is also true that only three persons were present, who else could my wife have addressed? Furthermore, I had just enjoyed a savory meatloaf soaked in port wine, and my wife had witnessed the event.

From Wikipedia: Quiche Lorraine is perhaps the most common variety of a French baked dish that is made primarily of eggs, and milk or cream in a pastry crust. In addition to the eggs and cream, it includes bacon or lardons. Cheese is not an ingredient of the original Lorraine recipe, as Julia Child informed Americans: "The classic quiche Lorraine contains heavy cream, eggs and bacon, no cheese." Of note, most contemporary quiche recipes include Gruyère cheese, technically called quiche au Gruyère. Also of note, the addition of onion to quiche Lorraine makes quiche Alsacienne.

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