Miranda Joubioux (X) (asker) Jun 18, 2009:

Also known as Thongweed http://www.theseashore.org.uk/theseashore/SpeciesPages/Thong...

John ANTHONY Jun 18, 2009:

To Roisin56 Well... old age is probably the answer...! "DeclenTion" vs "déclinaiSon"... is one of these cases when I sometimes have to proofread what I write: address vs adresse, conditional vs conditionnel, etc. Well spotted!!! ;-)

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Jun 18, 2009:

Chuffed? When it comes to railing, I am first class when it comes to being off the rails, I ought to confess I have never done any Latin of Greek. I wanted to do both but there were only two of us interested at school, so they could not run the course. My meagre Latin comes from my parents and my Grade 8 piano and grade 7 bassoon, curiosity and readings in and around the origin of expressions, always fun. Perhaps my German teacher chipped in too : screaming cases at us, and with the verb always at the end of the sentence coming, (ha ha), we picked up the odd remark on the origins of that species!
Well, we are a little "hors sujet" so on that cheery note, see you around on other questions.
All the best, from Nikki, whose son knows and loves Homer along with the Simpsons... and whose teenage daughter plays around with Antigone yet?

roisin56 Jun 18, 2009:

Just a slip of the finger then, fellow Latinist ? - declension - Whoops :-)

John ANTHONY Jun 18, 2009:

Message for Nikki Just an opportunity to say how much I appreciate your latest remarks: indeed, belonging to a generation that still had to deal with ancient latin and greek, I consistently repeat that (1) I find it invaluable to have been through the hard work of learning both for many years, and even more since I have become a "full-time" translator, and (2) rail at the more recent school programmes in many Countries (and the UK is among the worst), which totally ignore the incredible advantage they offer when learning other languages. In German, for instance, and when I was learning the language in my 20's, the two major issues are the declentions and the verbs sent to the end of the sentence; no problem when one masters the "ancient" latin...! :-)

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Jun 18, 2009:

Agreed That's what I came round to thinking too. It's useful to have pictures of the thing too and a good dose of Latin makes the whole much easier to swallow, ad infinitum!

Emma Paulay Jun 18, 2009:

Hi Nikki I ruled out sea bean as it refers to something quite different. The reference to beans was just because they are also called haricots de mer - hence the "extra-fins". If you look at the Latin name in the links I posted in the ref section and in Penny's answer, you'll see they correspond. So I think Miranda is safe with "sea spaghetti".

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Jun 18, 2009:

Tougher than it looks I’ve given this one closer thought. Original language sources do not necessarily concord here which makes things trickier still. Guess you really need tmeans o see what your client meanZ, er means...
Emma’s beanz meanz entry is interesting. It refers to the sea bean things. When you look at the picture, and also check out “sea bean” in original language sources, then you will note that “sea bean” and “sea spaghetti” are not the one and the same. Hmmm. So quite which beastie your original is referring to – the bean or spaghetti – is not entirely sure. Do you have a picture? I think we can safely rule out “salicorne” however.

Miranda Joubioux (X) (asker) Jun 17, 2009:

Can't contact the restaurant I've tried to contact the restaurant even though they're not my customer and to no avail. Since there's quite a good Kudoz community when it comes to cooking, I thought I'd ask here in case anyone had heard of it before.

John ANTHONY Jun 17, 2009:

Extra-fins... J'ai traduit des dizaines - sinon des centaines de menus, et en ma qualité (!) de cuisinier (amateur), je demande toujours au client en quoi consiste brièvement le plat. Ici, c'est peut-être des coquillages, ou des végétaux marins, ... Tant que vous ne le saurez pas, vous ne pourrez pas traduire de manière à ce qu le client sacha ce qui va lui être servi...! "Poulet sauté chasseur" = "Jumped hunter's chicken"...!!! :-)

emiledgar Jun 17, 2009:

nonsense This is probably nonsense that is supposed to sound good - would scallop crèpes include other seafood or sea products? Kelp?