Over Thanksgiving week, my family went to lunch at Cardwell’s in Frontenac. Nabeela and I both found the food to be eh, which is disappointing since it is usually wow, but mom & dad seemed to like their plates. For me, the best part of our dining experience was reading through all of the unnecessary scare quotes on their menu. When I lived in St. Louis, we used to go there all the time and I don’t ever remember noticing them. Long time readers of this blog may remember that scare quotes drive me crazy (especially if they happen to be in a group paper).

My favorite was the “vegetarian” sandwich, which my sister ordered because she’s a “vegetarian.” The scare quotes seem to imply that the sandwich was not “vegetarian” after all. Was there some hidden meat in the sandwich? Had the vegetables feasted on some meat prior to winding up in the sandwich? Or was the chef resentful of those so-called “vegetarians” and needing to offer them a “vegetarian” option? Is “vegetariansim” such a new fangled concept that we must scare quote it?