à la mode

[prettygoodword]

Theme week: phrasal lexemes -- that is, "words" that are multi-word. This was sparked by à go-go a few weeks ago, so I'll start with the word closest to it in form:


à la mode or a la mode (ah uh MOHD) - n., in the latest style, fashionable; (U.S.) served with ice cream.


That last is a strictly U.S. term (though Canadians, please weigh in here), as in pie à la mode, a slice of pie with a scope of ice cream on top -- and per one dictionary, in some regions of the U.S. it can also mean served with cheese, but I honestly have never heard of that. Interestingly, in French, there's also a culinary usage that didn't cross over, namely cooked with carrots and onions -- I'm guessing that meaning didn't exist when English took on the word in the 1640s. The literal meaning in French, btw, is "in fashion" -- so that meaning of mode.

---L.

Comments

[ranunculus]

The literal meaning "in fashon" makes total sense. I always thought it was an odd choice for meaning pie topped with ice cream. In our family that was what you got, a slice of pie with a scoop of ice cream on top.

[prettygoodword]

There has to be a culinary story behind that meaning, but I've never heard it.

[full_metal_ox]

Confession: I was well into adulthood by the time I learned cheese was a standard pairing with pie.