What makes casserole, casserole and what makes stew, stew?

[Aunt Bea]

It used to be quite common to make mock ham salad when times were tough.
[FONT=Verdana, serif]
Mock Ham salad[/FONT]

• [FONT=Verdana, serif]1 pound [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, serif]chunk bologna, ground[/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana, serif]2 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped[/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana, serif]1/3 cup [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, serif]finely chopped sweet pickles[/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana, serif]1/2 cup [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, serif]mayonnaise[/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana, serif]Leaf lettuce, optional[/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana, serif]8 to 10 sandwich buns, split[/FONT]

• [FONT=Verdana, serif]In a bowl, combine bologna, eggs, onion and pickles. Add mayonnaise; toss lightly until combined. Cover and chill. [/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana, serif]To serve, place a lettuce leaf on each sandwich bun, if desired, and top with about 1/3 cup ham salad; replace bun tops.[/FONT]

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Aunt Bea, my dear Mom had her own name for that type of ham salad, not to be used in polite company.

...It is one of those linguistic quirks that I find so very interesting because my MA is in linguistics and dialects were one of the areas I found fascinating to study. I love talking about words. I thought perhaps there were others who would find it fun...

Although nothing I've studied scholastically, I'm fascinated by regional words and their different meanings depending on where they are spoken. Same goes for pronunciations. Living where we are in MA, we live just about 600 miles from our birth hometown, in the same country. After 15 years of living up here I still have to have some of the locals translate for me when they use a word I'm completely confused by. Pronunciations especially crack me up. Neighbor says "loom", I think weaving. What? He's getting a load of LOAM delivered? In my book, that word should rhyme with "foam".

And now for the eternal question: what rhymes with "orange".

 

[jennyema]

Re: Defining first and second generation - I found the following on the US Census website. It's an excerpt from a report:

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The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 36.7 million of the nation's population (12 percent) were foreign-born, and another 33 million (11 percent) were native-born with at least one foreign-born parent in 2009, making one in five people either first or second generation U.S. residents. The second generation were more likely than the foreign born to be better educated and have higher earnings and less likely to be in poverty...
**********************

The bolded phrases suggest the first generation was foreign born and moved here and their children were the second generation.

I don't know if you want to accept the US Census Bureau as an acknowledged authority but at least we know how it's viewed for "official" purposes.

Hmmmmm....

My grandparents were born in Sweden and came here at the turn of the 20th century.

I always assumed my parents were first generation and I was second.... But maybe I'm third?

 

[taxlady]

Hmmmmm....

My grandparents were born in Sweden and came here at the turn of the 20th century.

I always assumed my parents were first generation and I was second.... But maybe I'm third?

Confusing, eh? People use it both ways. My parents were born in Scandinavia. I used to think of myself as first generation American.

I was remembering that native born Americans with parents born in Japan are called "nisei" and then I remembered that "ni" is two in Japanese. (I can count all the way to three in Japanese. ) I looked it up on Wikipedia and they wrote that someone born in the US to immigrant parents are called either first or second generation.

 

[Addie]

I don't think of second generation Americans... To me they are just Americans. Anyone born after the first generation born Americans are just Americans.

 

[CWS4322]

My maternal great-grandparents were enticed to immigrate because they were university educated, spoke English, and offered the professional services needed in MN and PA. My Swedish great-grandfathers were both pharmacists. They immigrated under a program MN offered. One of them went back to Gothenburg, Sweden 3x before he died--never naturalized. My maternal German great-grandmother's father was a civil engineer and immigrated to PA to help build the railroad. She married one of my Swedish-born great-grandfathers.


On my paternal great-great grandparents side, one immigrated to settle in Mexico and open a silver mine. Another went back to Norway to serve as the first Consulate General to Norway from 1898-1912. My ancestors did not leave Scandinavia because of famine, poverty. or religious discrimination. They left because they had "wanderlust." They were not typical immigrants--they spoke English, Swedish/German/Norwegian and were university educated. I was always jealous of friends' who inherited their great-grand grandma's immigration/dowry trunks--the rosemaling was gorgeous. Nothing like that came down from my ancestors. Other things, yes, but not that. My grandparents were not farmers despite the fact they settled in farming areas and had the biggest hearts and were the most decent people one could hope to meet. Miss them still. My grandparents were the first born in the US, my parents the 2nd, my brothers and I the third. I've always thought I was a third-generation American. But, because my mom's grandpa wasn't naturalized, would that bump my mom back to 1st generation, thus I would be 2nd?

 

[Gravy Queen]

Really interesting discussion , great comments .

Being from England I agree with what Mad Cook has said. some things though I would never do in the oven , like Irish Stew , I don't even know why , just tradition I suppose, I don't know anyone who puts it in the oven (but of course you can if you want to ) . Anything with pasta is a Pasta Bake never a stew or casserole . A casserole is a bit more posh , if you invite me over for a casserole I will be expecting a nice Julia Child Boooof Bourgignon ;-)