I really like this. I'm sure that some have been addressed over and over but it's good. Also how about neighborhood places that don't get reviewed but sandbox members know of and recommend! Have a good weekend.

Is there a Top 10 Top 10 Lists list?

Yes, believe it or not. Check out the database to the right. EL

looks like you just need to talk about birches if you want a whole bunch of comments :-P

speaking of, I went there yesterday for the first time. we all had cash. I didn't even want to try to create an issue with anyone there. otherwise, everything was ok. not great.

Hmm...spiciest dishes could generate some talk. I like spicy, I don't like hot for the sake of hot. The difference is where the chatter could come in.

Healthiest? Naw.

One and done is interesting. Not sure it is "top" material.

Best smelling restaurants?! How bizarre! As you may know, I often judge a place based (entirely) on odor, I love the idea.
Is 'one and done'/poor service/worst a viable option? I was under the assumption that newspapers shied away from negative reviews, something about biting the hand that feeds them.

how about top 10 places with bad service that are still worth going to?

Lissa, I agree with your comment about spicy food. So often, hot is just an attempt to cover up a lack of flavor.

I like Earl's idea. The top ten out-of-the-way places that you'd never think of going to -- maybe never even heard of -- until another sandboxer recommends them. We can then either express our appreciation for a terrific dining tip or (to put this in culinary terms) beef that we got a bad steer.

Top Ten (Hole-In-the-Wall) restaurants or take-out.

You want comments and hits from hoi polloi?

Top Ten Fast Food Items

And I mean real lumpen prole fast food that people openly or secretly eat (and WHAT was Gailor doing in a Subway?)

People will come out of the wood work.

I dare you.
I double dare you.

I double dog dare you.

Now you have to do it.

You will more new commenters than you've had in three months.

Remember when I suggested sandwiches? That was gangbusters,

I can't believe you're such a linguistics snob not to use the in front of hoi. EL

I like the idea of restaurants that have a big plus and a big minus. Maybe the food is good but the service is bad (Golden West, Donna's, and the old Gampy's), or the ambiance/view is good but the food is not so great (Tidewater Grill in Havre De Grace, Phillips, Rusty Scupper).

Another sure bet to get a lot of hits is Top 10 restaurants with hot waitresses/waiters. Food + Sex = Blog Views

I can't believe you're such a linguistics snob not to use the in front of hoi. EL

You're kidding, right? Can we get a ruling from Prof. McIntyre?

οἱ πολλοί
How many "the's" do you need?

"the hoi polloi" would translate as "the the masses" or populace.

I know what it means. It's just that no one in English uses the phrase without the the. EL

She's joking VD Pork.

Yeah.

Ahoy polloi.

"The hoi polloi"would be like saying "The La Hacienda" or "The Los Lonely Boys". "hoi" is the English way of writing the Greek article "oi" because it has a rough breathing at the beginning. When I learned Koine Greek at St. Mary's Seminary, there was a little backwards apostrophe (a diacritical mark) that the Greek texts used to indicate what we we call an "H" sound. I don't believe that the original Greek writing had it. Somehw they just knew. Plus there is no "H" sound letter in Greek. Plus in the early Greek there was no punctution or spaces.

Poor H. It's the most abused letter ever.

I miss studying Greek. It's so rewarding.

I know what the Greek is. But unlike "the La Hacienda," "the hoi poloi" is what I've heard frm most English speakers for decades. I should have said "linguistic purist," not "linguistic snob." :-) EL

My knowledge of Greek is scant, mostly limited to Greek letters from calculus. I saw a film at the MD Film Fest where Ann Coulter made fun of a journalist for saying "the hoi polloi". I never want to be less educated than that thing.

The thought of being less educated than Ann Coulter is, indeed, chilling.

Owlie, keep studying Greek. Then you can read me Homer in the original, and I'll read Beowulf to you.

"The hoi polloi" is right up there with "ATM machine" and "please RSVP."

"ATM machine" drives me crazy.

Worse is "PIN number".

I'm thinking of putting on my jacket coat and going on a redundancy binge bender. So long and farewell, I'm off to get a cocktail drink or maybe a beer brew at the local bar pub.

Hot water heater.

Nice, flaquita. Don't be a stranger

hoi polloi is a special case in that one can use it precisely and not NECESSARILY sound as if one's showing off specialized knowledge.

However, casual users of the phrase are absolutely A MILLION TIMES NOT WRONG when they say "the hoi polloi." It is not at all the same as saying "the the people." It is saying "the 'widely known phrase that means regular folk.'"

None of the examples is truly a redundancy. Please RSVP means: Please do that RSVP thing. An ATM machine is a machine that we call an ATM. A pin number is a code that we commonly refer to as a PIN.

I am totally, totally in accord with you on these. Sometimes I'm not happy that language changes and odd things become the norm, but they do. EL

I love the idea of the healthiest! I am constantly trying to think of restaurant options where i can get something other than a salad!

Chiming in...
"Me llamo es ____" is my pet peeve.
I feel better now.

Maybe the sandbox can clear something up for me on use of the word "myriad."

(A) She had a myriad of problems?
(B) She had myriad problems?

I thought "a myriad of..." was redundant. It would be nice to know which is correct.

I'd like to help out, but I've been up since 6:00 AM in the morning and I'm very tired.

I'd like to help out, but there are a myriad of things I don't know and this is one of them.

We really miss Prof. McIntyre.

I was hoping this might serve as bait for Wise Prof. Mc.
BTW-Healthy food and ma&pa shops have my vote.

p.s., by the way, I still use "hoi polloi" without the article as a shibboleth. It's fun to know those things.

Oh Sunshine Kid, your reasonableness makes me cry.

"Me llamo es ____" is my pet peeve.

The correct construction is "Me llamo ___". No "es".

Triple points off for using the wretched S___box term.

TED (witty)
The correct construction is "Me llamo ___". No "es".

- Which is why it's a pet peeve, because most people get it wrong adding the 'es,' so we agree? Or again the wit is over my head?

Please pardon use of sandbox, noted and won't be seen again.

Tough crowd!

(A) She had a myriad of problems?
(B) She had myriad problems?
I thought "a myriad of..." was redundant. It would be nice to know which is correct.

Get a dictionary.

Since I'm doing your homework expect a little abuse.

Both are correct, which is really easy to find out if you look at a dictionary.

One is a noun and the other an adjective. It's from the Greek, literally meaning ten thousand or crap loads. The adjective is easy to figure out, it means innumerable.

Why ten thousand? It has been my experience that ancient type people didn't count much beyond that. Ten thousand was considered crazy big. That's how they rolled in ancient China and Japan at least and apparently in Greece too, judging by the use of "myriad".

C**p loads of thanks.

You just have to ignore them. They are cranky today. EL

Neighbor, "Sandbox" is the correct term. There's just one of us who doesn't like it. Something traumatic must have happened to him right after the picture was taken, like a bunch of sixth graders beat him up and stole his baseball cap.

Okay Neighbor, we agree. I thought your pet peeve was Americans using Spanish for no reason.

My biggest peeve along those lines is "mano a mano", which people use to mean "man to man". Because to make Spanisho you just add o. [it means hand to hand].

And yes my name above is intended to be a double double entendre or whatever you might call it.

Misuse of "decimate" is annoying too, if only because that means they don't know the origin, which is really cool.

The origin of decimate is totally cool, but I still use it the wrong way.

My pet peeve, because it is something I do, is to pick up slang that just sounds wrong from someone like me. Dude, it is just so embarrassing.

Okay, shall we go on and on about the misuse of "shambles" now? Or maybe not ...

S#$%box

Many people HATE it. It's infantile and not at all clever. There was never a vote by the Largesse or ruling by Divine Leader for Life. I wil fight you to the death on this! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..................

There was never a vote...

Are you sure? Because somebody told me once that the hoi polloi approved it by a voice vote.

I'd rather this be the Sandbox than the Frying Pan. Or the Litterbox. Or even the Bacon Drawer, although we're getting into the portion of our yearly cycle when I become severely tempted to move into the fridge.

I do the same thing Lissa. But that's just how I roll, fo shizzle

The El Train -

You might want to refer back to the words of our wise old Owl Meat Gravy who said (among other things) on Bucky's March 13th Sandbox Seal of Approval Post:

"I don't vote in real life, I'm not voting for anything here. Talk about thinking inside the box -- voting." March 13, 4:25pm

So, if there was never a vote, that may be why.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was RtSO who first casually used the term Sandbox in reference to this blog, never thinking it would become a contentious label.

Thank you Laura Lee Keeper of the Knowledge.

Yes, I am particularly cranky today. It must be going around.

You sure lurked for a long time before speaking up, Laura Lee. And you don't forget anything .

Lissa, I have the memory of an elephant. It is a curse.

LL - better the memory than the butt (of an elephant) :)

I can see where it could be a curse, Laura Lee. Some things need to be forgotten.

I'm going back to Wordville.

Last week we argued over IP addresses, and this week it is over antecedents on Latin phrases. I'm not sure if we are getting crankier or dorkier.

Oh you guys ran off JMc!

McIntytre don't go away yet. Here is a question for you.

You want bourbon, but the bar is out of everything except Jack Daniels. Drink it? Or move on to something else?

Another question - if you're having bourbon or a cocktail with bourbon, would you choose smokehouse almonds or cheese straws?

one day at a time, once you've been around a bit longer, you'll stop trying to recruit everyone. Relax, work your own program and help those who are ready, not every random person you meet.

How about a top 10 places you go for the atmosphere, not necessarily the food? I guess Rainforest Cafe would have been one, although what brought this to mind was the Korean spa in Centreville, VA (although the food there was surprisingly good). You go to Red Emma's for the conversation and the atmosphere, not the food, too.

Personal inventory? Good idea. I just found my car keys.

Bourbon Girl, though I verge on apostasy in saying so, there are bourbons that are not as good as Jack Daniel's. When a good one is available it always takes precedence. I usually drink Jack Daniel's on an airplane, because the airlines imagine that it is a bourbon and do not serve a real one.

I'd prefer the almonds with bourbon, either straight or in a cocktail.

I'm partial to Manhattans, but Kingsley Amis says that the old-fashioned is "the only cocktail really to rival the martini and its variants." I wonder whether it is stil possible to find one made competently in a bar or restaurant.

Also, to one day at a time, in the kindest and most respectful manner, butt out.

Bourbon Girl was trying to "lure" Prof. McIntyre? Wow...this blog is turning into a reality show. Maybe SarahKK should start running updates on D@L in Reality Check.

Is reality show what they call soap operas now?

Is reality show what they call soap operas now?

I don't think so. The differences have to do with how they are scripted, I think. Soap operas are scripted. Reality shows are...uh...manipulated, I guess is a good word. No scripted dialogue, for example.

In my youth, there was unscripted dialogue on some soaps, simply because it was too much to memorize scripts every day.

I wonder who would be up late posting mean things on a food blog. Personal inventory indeed.

Owl, Laura Lee is quite right. The term "sandbox" originated with RtSO, of blessed memory. I'd like to see you just get over it.

Sandbox Shmandbox. I know exactly where the term came from, but you can waterboard me and I'll use it or call myself a "foodie". B>P

I wonder who would be up late posting mean things on a food blog. Personal inventory indeed.

Probably someone who was hungry. B>)

I did a personal inventory this weekend, but I don't know how the song goes after 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Oh yeah, 30 days in rehab to go, 30 days to go, ...

Owl,
Please be nice. Let us honor the memory of RtSO and keep this the Sandbox.

I remember your personal inventory, you found your car keys!

Rob, honoring RtSO doesn't require agreeing with anything he ever said.

I also dislike the term "Sandbox", although I'm past arguing about it (as I suspect OMG is as well). I won't use the term to describe the blog, though.

RtSO didn't endorse it either. Regretted saying it.