In "The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi," Dave Lowry says, early in the book,

"Whatever tops the rice in a serving of nigiri sushi is its tane, or neta.
The words mean the same thing and are the same charcters, just reversed.
Some sushi itamae say it one way; some the other. Here's a general rule:
"Tane" is the most common pronunciation in and around Tokyo."

He then uses the word "tane" throughout the rest of the book.

I've noticed that almost everyone here uses "neta," not "tane," and to the
best of my knowledge, I've never seen "tane" used here. Googling "tane" in
alt.food.sushi gets five hits, but doing the same for "neta" gets 142 hits.

So I was curious where those of you who say "neta" learned that way to say
it, and why the preponderance of those here seem to say it the less common
way (at least according to Lowry."

--
Ken Blake
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"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In "The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi," Dave Lowry says, early in the book,

"Whatever tops the rice in a serving of nigiri sushi is its tane, or neta.
The words mean the same thing and are the same charcters, just reversed.
Some sushi itamae say it one way; some the other. Here's a general rule:
"Tane" is the most common pronunciation in and around Tokyo."

He then uses the word "tane" throughout the rest of the book.

I've noticed that almost everyone here uses "neta," not "tane," and to the
best of my knowledge, I've never seen "tane" used here. Googling "tane" in
alt.food.sushi gets five hits, but doing the same for "neta" gets 142
hits.

So I was curious where those of you who say "neta" learned that way to say
it, and why the preponderance of those here seem to say it the less common
way (at least according to Lowry."

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup


I have always used neta. Every itamae I've known, admittedly mostly from
Kansai or Kyushu, has used neta.
The only time I ran into Tane being used was in a book written by a Tokyo
itamae's wife.
So it is possible that the original term may have been Tane in Edo where
Edomae Zushi first originated.
However, checking a few Japanese web sites indicated that the reverse may be
true, that Neta was the first
original term and due to an unfavorable image of the word the letters were
reversed to Tane.
I am actually still wondering just what unfavorable image that might be.
Shimoneta? Not sure.
In any case clearly either form can be used and is acceptable.
I don't really know if Tane is actually used more than Neta.
By itself, Tane can mean a seed, the subject matter among other things.
Neta can also mean subject matter, the crux of a story or joke.
Sometimes so the word isn't taken out of context you will see the word
Sushineta
which I come across fairly often.
And although the word Sushidane (sushi + tane) seems to exist, I've never
run into it.
M

Musashi wrote:

"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In "The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi," Dave Lowry says, early in the
book,

"Whatever tops the rice in a serving of nigiri sushi is its tane, or
neta. The words mean the same thing and are the same charcters, just
reversed. Some sushi itamae say it one way; some the other. Here's a
general rule: "Tane" is the most common pronunciation in and around
Tokyo."

He then uses the word "tane" throughout the rest of the book.

I've noticed that almost everyone here uses "neta," not "tane," and
to the best of my knowledge, I've never seen "tane" used here.
Googling "tane" in alt.food.sushi gets five hits, but doing the same
for "neta" gets 142 hits.

So I was curious where those of you who say "neta" learned that way
to say it, and why the preponderance of those here seem to say it
the less common way (at least according to Lowry."

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup


I have always used neta. Every itamae I've known, admittedly mostly
from Kansai or Kyushu, has used neta.
The only time I ran into Tane being used was in a book written by a
Tokyo itamae's wife.
So it is possible that the original term may have been Tane in Edo
where Edomae Zushi first originated.
However, checking a few Japanese web sites indicated that the reverse
may be true, that Neta was the first
original term and due to an unfavorable image of the word the letters
were reversed to Tane.
I am actually still wondering just what unfavorable image that might
be. Shimoneta? Not sure.
In any case clearly either form can be used and is acceptable.
I don't really know if Tane is actually used more than Neta.
By itself, Tane can mean a seed, the subject matter among other
things. Neta can also mean subject matter, the crux of a story or
joke.
Sometimes so the word isn't taken out of context you will see the word
Sushineta
which I come across fairly often.
And although the word Sushidane (sushi + tane) seems to exist, I've
never run into it.


Thanks, Musashi. It's obviously not of earthshaking importance; I was just
curious.


--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup