CHOW Looks at Colonie

By on April 7, 2011 9:53 pm in Food


CHOW dropped by the nabe and checked out Atlantic Avenue’s latest addition – Colonie.

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  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    I just wish Alex didn’t have that horrid way of speaking that, alas, so many young women have today, that made much of what she said unintelligible to my ears.

  • David on Middagh

    Yes, a good report, but she needs to say fewer words, and speak more slowly, not in machine-gun bursts. You can tell she tries to enunciate, but even with headphones I had to replay certain spots.

  • http://loscalzo.posterous.com Homer Fink

    Well if anyone wants to volunteer to be our “food editor”… comment away!

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Will you pay my restaurant bills?

  • http://loscalzo.posterous.com Homer Fink

    What would Bob Lape do?

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Who cares?

  • AEB

    (Avis: the following is a Facebook repost.)

    The vocal presentation is a somewhat refined (!) variation on young-female “uptalk,” current for some time. Typically, sentences end as if each were a question, but the defining characteristic is great high-to-low-and-back vocal swooping.

    Here,another one of the problems is what grandma would call a lack of enunciation. PS, too bad the food isn’t–apparently–a smash. Don’t get tiny portions. Never have, never will. They’re anti-appetite.

  • Matthew Parker

    Alas, n this humble correspondent’s subjective opinion, Colonie only rated 3 out of 5. See my Yelp review: http://mattparker.yelp.com

  • Livingston

    I didn’t have any problems with understanding her. Maybe it’s a male thing?

    BTW, had the duck rillette at the bistro Bacchus (also on Atlantic Ave) last week. It was on the Dine in Brookyn menu. Yummy! So now I know how it was made.

  • carlotta

    Maybe it’s an age thing – my ears can’t hear that fast.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    (Hertz: This is also a Facebook repost. It is partly in response to AEB’s comment above, and partly in response to David Fuller’s comment (on FB, but not on this thread) that his pet peeve is people who don’t “speak on the breath”; that is, instead of allowing air being inhaled or exhaled to vibrate the vocal cords, trap air in their throats and use that.)

    Interesting point, David. I’ve described this speech as “singsong” (though by that I didn’t mean melodic in any pleasing sense). One cannot really sing “on the breath”; one inhales, sings a line, then takes another breath between lines. I don’t think, though, that the prevalence of this style of speech stems from a widespread desire to make the cast of Glee. I used to think that what [AEB] calls “uptalk” came from the Valley Girl craze of the early 80s. Actually, I think that was the immediate cause of its spread (and its spread was remarkable both geographically–I’ve heard young women from Atlanta who sound no different than ones from New York, Chicago, LA or Nebraska–and ethnically–I’ve heard it spoken by African and Asian Americans, as well as Latinas), but I also think it has roots going back at least to the 70s, when I noticed female flight attendants (“stews” in those unenlightened days) saying things like, “THE captain HAS turned on THE fasten seat belt sign. Please return TO your seat AND make sure YOUR seat belt IS securely fastened.” Someone I was travelling with remarked that airlines taught stewardess trainees to speak this way because it sounds childlike, and therefore “sexy.” Lurking behind this, it seems, is an assumption that most American men are at least closet pedophiles.

    The good news, at least in my little part of the world, is that my seventeen year old daughter is not afflicted with this speech pattern, nor are any of her high school friends that I’ve met. I have heard an occasional “aw-SOME!”, but I think its use may be ironic.

  • David on Middagh

    This thread has turned into an outpost of Language Log. I love it!

    http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/

  • Billy Reno

    Based on her post-sorority uptalk pattern, I deduce that this vid. was meant for murrayhillblog.com.

    Reviewing the reviewer…

    Priceless!

  • WillowtownCop

    Where exactly is the cutoff for “young” women who speak that way? I think I may be straddling the line and I’m not sure which side I want to come down on.

  • EHinBH

    Wife and I ate here last week. Was excellent. Also finally tried Seasons: not so hot. BUT, Seasons has an every day $25 pre-fixe for dinner, which is an unbelievebale value. Will try again to give the food a second chance.

  • Elmer Fudd

    Duck and Wabbit? This must be heaven. I’d even like to taste the reviewer. Ha, ha, ha.

  • Jorale-man

    I’ve heard this girl’s reports on NY1 recently. She covers some interesting things but I agree, she needs a producer who can step in and tell her to slow down a bunch. TV and radio delivery requires a more deliberate style that isn’t so easy to master at first glance.