"It's like a Chinese menu"

From Cubs.com:

Naming rights is the hot button issue with fans. The Cubs have already made some changes, such as renaming the bleachers the "Bud Light Bleachers" and adding the new Chicago Board Options Exchange seats, currently being auctioned off. New Tribune Co. chairman Sam Zell has made it clear that he is interested in selling naming rights to the ballpark, which was built in 1914 and named after William Wrigley.

The Cleveland Indians, for example, have changed the name of their stadium to "Progressive Field" after selling the name. The New York Mets will receive $400 million after selling their new stadium name to Citibank. It will be named "Citi Field."

"It's like a Chinese menu -- people are doing it all different ways," Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney said of naming rights. "We know there's value in people attaching their corporate brands to what we are selling out at Clark and Addison [Streets]. Whether it's on the marquee or 70 seats down by the bullpen, naming rights are something we'll keep pursuing."

Somebody get that man to Lao Sze Chuan. Actually, now that I think about it, Tony Hu Field doesn't sound too bad (Hu's on first?)

Seriously. Like a Chinese menu? What does that even mean? Why couldn't it be, like a Uzbek menu, or like a French menu? Is Crane Kenney from so boring a tradition that his family only "does it" one way? (wait, don't probe that). That one way is at least as creative as naming children after pelagic seabirds, so one would think there would be some variety in the Kenney household. I'm not sure whether to feel insulted on behalf of the Chinese community for the tired reference, happy that Kenney realizes there are so many wonderful choices at many area Chinese restaurants (if he's earnest), or sad that he doesn't have a culture of his own to keep his metaphors to. What a Chad. [/ducks, apologizes to Kennyz, buys him rattlesnake in mole on Monday].

Santander wrote:From Cubs.com:

Naming rights is the hot button issue with fans. The Cubs have already made some changes, such as renaming the bleachers the "Bud Light Bleachers" and adding the new Chicago Board Options Exchange seats, currently being auctioned off. New Tribune Co. chairman Sam Zell has made it clear that he is interested in selling naming rights to the ballpark, which was built in 1914 and named after William Wrigley.

The Cleveland Indians, for example, have changed the name of their stadium to "Progressive Field" after selling the name. The New York Mets will receive $400 million after selling their new stadium name to Citibank. It will be named "Citi Field."

"It's like a Chinese menu -- people are doing it all different ways," Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney said of naming rights. "We know there's value in people attaching their corporate brands to what we are selling out at Clark and Addison [Streets]. Whether it's on the marquee or 70 seats down by the bullpen, naming rights are something we'll keep pursuing."

Somebody get that man to Lao Sze Chuan. Actually, now that I think about it, Tony Hu Field doesn't sound too bad (Hu's on first?)

Seriously. Like a Chinese menu? What does that even mean? Why couldn't it be, like a Uzbek menu, or like a French menu? Is Crane Kenney from so boring a tradition that his family only "does it" one way? (wait, don't probe that). That one way is at least as creative as naming children after pelagic seabirds, so one would think there would be some variety in the Kenney household. I'm not sure whether to feel insulted on behalf of the Chinese community for the tired reference, happy that Kenney realizes there are so many wonderful choices at many area Chinese restaurants (if he's earnest), or sad that he doesn't have a culture of his own to keep his metaphors to. What a Chad. [/ducks, apologizes to Kennyz, buys him rattlesnake in mole on Monday].

I nominate "like a Chinese menu" as a colloquialism for batshit non sequitur.

edit as per following comments: ahhhh...now I get it...

I kind of liked the thought of an elision of an idea that makes no sense in context...

Santander wrote:

"It's like a Chinese menu -- people are doing it all different ways," Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney said of naming rights.

Like a Chinese menu? What does that even mean?

It just means a very long menu with a lot of choices (e.g. Lao Sze Chuan).

Santander wrote:Like a Chinese menu? What does that even mean?

Pick one from column A, one from column B. . . In other words, they're not going for a steak that always comes with a salad and baked potato. Yes, it's a tired reference.

Right. It's not a non sequitur. It's just dated. Back in the day, Chinese menus used to encourage large groups (mostly families) to put together a family-style meal by "choosing one [appetizer] from Column A, one from Column B," etc. There really were columns, and they really were labeled Column A, B, etc. It wasn't really confusing (it was kind of fun, and it actually made putting together a large family-style meal easier, not harder, by structuring the ordering process as a series of finite choices, which is why menus did it), but it did involve a "process" of sorts, and so the cliché "like ordering from a Chinese menu" came to describe any complicated process. I haven't seen one of those columnar Chinese menus in a while, but they probably still exist.

In a recent business phone call, I caught myself before committing the faux pas the Cubs chairman made. I was about to say, about something that was getting complicated for all of us, "this is like ordering from a Chinese menu," when I realized that one of the clients on the other end of the phone was Asian. I changed my thought before I got to the end of the sentence, and said, "this is like ordering from a really complicated menu." Lame, I know, but I didn't want to tread on anyone's sensitivities, and once I'd uttered the first five words I had to find some way to finish the sentence that didn't include any nationality or ethnic group.

Santander wrote: What a Chad. [/ducks, apologizes to Kennyz, buys him rattlesnake in mole on Monday].

Sure, take a northside Tribune-defending Chad apologist to the southside for a meal. "I'll buy him rattlesnake in mole" sounds an awful lot like "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse." Perhaps I can delay the inevitable by bringing you a box of cannolis. (ducks, apologizes to Antonius, offers to buy him - well - something other than a box of cannolis)

Zell's Cell or the Zell

I'm sorry . . . but were you all expecting creativity from the Cubs Chairman? Where's his creativity in getting us good starting pitching?????

(Obligatory food reference to comply with forum rules: I wish they'd offer Vienna Beef hot dogs instead of Best's Kosher at Wrigley. And how often do they clean those rotary chopped onion dispensers?)

aschie30 wrote:And how often do they clean those rotary chopped onion dispensers?

Some questions, my friend, are best left unanswered.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... hlight=rat

Trained. With little Brillo pads tied to their backs and stomachs.