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Chris -- 2018-04-11

#1 2009-03-04 16:09:08

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2752
Website

Sue chef < sous-chef

This is another one in the category of foreign-source malapropisms. It is also in some degree another “Annie” entry.

Uncategorized question: What does a sue chef make? Please help us answer this question.

As she cooked I was her sue chef, running outside in the crazy blizzard to … I cut all the green chilies, then Eero and this other sue chef taught me how

which quickly led me to a position as a prep cook in a hotel for the same company, then a promotion to sue chef at one of their other restaurants.

the other day i watched as my sue chef got decked in the face by one of the cooks who diddnt want to act right

The repetition in the second quote is significant—the writer apparently thinks this spelling standard.
.
There are many purposeful examples, but I didn’t (in a quick scan of only a few pages) run across any that seemed non-purposeful, like those above, where the Sue was capitalized.
.
If this is the proper noun Sue (and it may be despite the lack of capitalization), I would call it a kind of eggcorn, though not nearly so good a one as e.g. penny-Annie (much less petty-Annie). It doesn’t make wonderfully revelatory sense, but it does make a kind of sense. There are other Name-noun compounds: billy-club, Johnny-cake, etc. If it were Betty (Crocker) chef or something, that would make more sense, but of course not sound right.
.
If it is the verb sue, I get no sense out of it.

Last edited by DavidTuggy (2009-03-05 07:53:33)


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#2 2009-03-13 14:38:38

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1258

Re: Sue chef < sous-chef

Some time ago I was about to post ‘soup chef’ for ‘sous chef’ when I realised that much of the English-speaking world (US) may not be as influenced by the French Brigade de Cuisine as we Brits. There were numerous ‘soup chef’ hits (mainly US) but no evidence that ‘sous’ was intended so I abandoned the notion, but the relative paucity of, for example, ‘pastry chef’ or ‘sauce chef’ references makes me wonder whether I gave in too easily.

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#3 2010-05-20 10:17:18

David Bird
Eggcornista
From: The Hammer, Ontario
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 1702

Re: Sue chef < sous-chef

Too many chefs and not enough sioux chefs.

Gourmet careers
While head chefs, sioux chefs, runners, and waiters are clamoring around behind the scenes for some kind of coherency the pastry chef is off in the corner delicately applying the finishing touches to their artistic desserts.

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#4 2010-05-20 11:26:34

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2752
Website

Re: Sue chef < sous-chef

Attested:

Too many cooks and not enough Indians

Too many cooks in the soup.

Too many chiefs in the pie.

Too many cooks in the coffin.

Too many fires in the oven.

Too many fires in the pan.

Too many irons in the kettle — I mean the pot.

Too many ovens in the fire.

I mean, like:

When is too much excessive?


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#5 2010-05-20 12:16:14

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2872

Re: Sue chef < sous-chef

Sioux chef! Funny.

Thanks, David T. Always enjoy your excursions into the steamy underbelly of blends and missed metaphors.

Last edited by kem (2010-05-20 12:16:46)


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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