Factoid: The Barefoot Contessa is neither a contessa nor barefoot.

[KamaAina]

Discuss.

[Swede]

1. But can she cook?

:hide:

[sarge43]

2. Or type? n/t

[bigwillq]

3. It doesn't matter.

She is awesome!!! Love her show. Love her. Great liberal. Her food looks awesome. Love her voice; so soothing.

LOVE INA! :bounce:

[muffin1]

6. I love her, too!

I use her recipes all the time and they always turn out great! Her coconut cupcakes are to die - I think there are four sticks of butter in the batter, and another two in the frosting. You wouldn't want to eat them every day, but OMG they are wonderful!


:hi:

[muffin1]

24. Now if she would only have her friend T.R. on the show more!

Mmmm...:P

[Bucky]

4. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics wasn't a union, nor organized into soviets, nor socialistic

nor Holy, nor Roman, nor exactly an empire.

[KamaAina]

5. So you're saying Ina's a commie?

Is that what you're saying? :P

[marmar]

7. Of all the Food Network on-air people, her dishes have the most appeal to me......

...... she comes off as a wee bit arrogant, but that's OK. She knows what she's doing, unlike Rachel Ray, who puts a bell pepper on a hamburger and calls it gourmet.

[WinkyDink]

8. I'm so verklempt! Her food is like buttah!

[KamaAina]

9. As opposed to Paula Deen

whose food is buttah. :puke:

[WinkyDink]

11. ;-)

[Old Troop]

10. I'm stunned at this news. If not a contessa, is she of royal blood at all?

[datasuspect]

12. i'd hit it

i like me a big ol' gal.

[KamaAina]

13. Funny you should mention that

some time ago, some of the NOLA bloggers were critiquing their favorite Food Network personalities. (As you know, they take their food VERY seriously down there.) Well, don't'cha know, one of them speculated on what Ina might do if she were to get a little tipsy on the cooking sherry. "Saucy" was the key descriptive word. :loveya:

[MiddleFingerMom]

14. We have an amazing Italian buffet restaurant that used to be called, "The Barefoot Contessa"...

.
.
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...until SHE hit national fame -- and then her copyright people made
the Tucson restaurant change its name (they settled on "Contessa").
.
On Ina, west of La Cholla. I DARE you to find better meatballs.
.
.
.
After I took a friend there on a date, she took her sons there on
another night. One son, not quite grasping the concept of a buffet,
copped a real attitude when they wouldn't let him fill up his big
backpack with food to go.
.
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.
rofl:
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Though I guess it IS food worthy of passionate responses.
.
.
.

[KamaAina]

17. On Ina?!

You do realize that's the faux contessa's given name, right? :wow:

And I did not realize you were in Tucson. :( for Rep. Giffords and the others.

[JTG of the PRB]

15. Or IS she?

Think about THAT one for a minute!

[KamaAina]

16. Which? A contessa, or barefoot?

I'd have probably noticed if she were barefoot. :evilgrin:

[siligut]

18. When she bought her first shop in W Hamptonbeach, that was the name of it

Ina didn't name it The Barefoot Contessa, the woman from whom she bought the shop did. So when Ina bought her second shop, she just went with it. It is from an old movie, but you probably knew that. Anyway, everyone just started calling her that, so it stuck. I like her, she is relaxing to watch and probably one of the more intelligent food channel hosts.

[monmouth]

20. I believe, under Pres. Nixon, she had a very good job with the Dept.

of Energy. Heard it, don't have a link. Very intelligent gal.

[siligut]

22. Yes, that is what I think too.

Wiki just says she worked at The White House. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_Garten#Early_history_and_career

[muffin1]

25. I seem to remember reading that she worked under Bush Sr.

at the Energy Dept. No matter...she is fabulous!

[tishaLA]

26. It was the Carter administration. Her husband worked in

both the Nixon and Carter administrations; Ina worked in OMB during the Carter administration only. Jeffrey, her husband, ultimately left government to teach at Yale, where he ultimately became Dean of the School of Management.

[jobycom]

19. Isn't a factoid a fact that isn't?

So if it's a factoid that she's neither a contessa nor barefoot, isn't that saying that she is both a contessa and barefoot? Or is the whole factoid itself the issue, so that she could be one or the other, but not both?

Or is it a factoid that your factoid is a factoid?

[siligut]

21. From the free dictionary by Farlex

fac·toid (fktoid)
1. A piece of unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of frequent repetition: "What one misses finally is what might have emerged beyond both facts and factoidsa profound definition of the Marilyn Monroe phenomenon" (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt).
2. Usage Problem A brief, somewhat interesting fact.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/factoid

So, I guess, she isn't barefoot nor a contessa, but the name isn't a description, but rather an identifier, so the question posed in the OP is moot, and served its purpose. We discussed.

[jobycom]

23. Interesting. So by that dictionary entry, "factoid" can mean either one thing or its opposite.

Kind of like the way people use "comprise," I guess. Or "irregardless."

I love English. It has sarcasm built into its very bones. :rofl: