r a m e n i a c: the associated noodle press

the associated noodle press

by rameniac | 15 Jul 2008

A few weeks back, journalist Adam Goldman interviewed me for an Associated Press article about the increasing popularity of ramen in the U.S. As I no longer work for a newspaper and don't have access to the AP database, I wasn't sure how I'd find the resultant article. Thankfully, site member tampopo put it up in the rameniac forums! Here's a link, courtesy of the Times and Democrat of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Hopefully, the day will come when every small town in America has a ramen shop (or two, or eight) to call its own!

tagged: news • random •

Comments

Congrats again! I’ve seen this article in tons of newspapers!

Posted by edjusted on 07/16 at 11:05 PM

http://www.rameniac.com/forum/viewthread/83/

an EMAIL from a veteran language man, a reporter/editor in NYC:

http://www.rameniac.com/forum/viewthread/83/

Dear Tampopo,

What a GREAT question you raise here!

I suspect—but have no reason to know—that this happened a lot with
other transliterations as well.

You may have to concede this one, though.

Every English dictionary I can find—including the venerable Oxford
English Dictionary—accept “ramen” with no qualifications.

Only Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary lists an alternate
spelling, and it won’t make you happy, either: “Also called larmen.”

(There, is however, a restaurant in Greenwich Village called Tokyo Lamen.)

When the horse is that far out of the barn, there’s no going back.”

[TAMPOPO ADDS: But this editor also said that maybe this lamen/ramen
brouhaha is worth discussing, if only to see where it leads.... Yes,
let’s see where this discussion leads. Chances of getting the English
speaking world to change the spelling of RAMEN to the correct LAMEN
are slim, very slim, quixotically slim, impossibly slim, slin as a
LAMEN noodle, but hey, let’s try. That’s what language is all about:
trying to set things right!]

Posted by on 07/18 at 10:10 PM