No "rotini" for you?

[biggerbirdbrain]

Alan - I'm stumped. I thought rotini was just a type of pasta. How come it was rejected? Proper noun? Or do you just prefer bow-tie variety? 
3-B

[Viz]

i think it's ruotini - from ruota - a wheel (taking the opportunity to show off my perfect italian)

[biggerbirdbrain]

The root word is probably right, ma bella Vizellina, but I found rotini in at least one dictionary. Now I'm confused. 

HELP!

3-B

[Viz]

oh well - just guessing - i bow to your supoerior research skills - i like Vizzelina - i might have to adopt it

[biggerbirdbrain]

No big thing, Vizzelina, dahling. I saw the name on the box in my cupboard, plus, I grew up around a bunch of paisanos in NY, so ... you know. Names like Bonanno, Genovese, etc. Nice folks. Little Italy was just full of friendly little old men sitting around playing chess on their front stoops. With large hairy men walking in and out of their butcher shops and pizzerias. Very "quiet" neighborhoods. Except late at night, when chain saws and fast cars interrupted the silence from time to time.  (get my drift, heh, heh?)

Ciao, baby -
3-B

[technomc]

Love the new piccy Viz....
Oh.. won't you be my teddy bear>>..

[biggerbirdbrain]

Cute and cuddly - awwwwwwwwwww.   
3-B

[Alan W]

3-B, I like every kind of pasta, but I certainly don't know the names of all of them. Our word list does already include quite a few - I remember rigatoni was one of the "common" words missed by a lot of players in one of the puzzles we analysed after the rosette came in. And farfalle (bowtie shaped) is there too.

But not rotini. As you point out, 3-B, it is listed by at least one dictionary, Webster's New Millennium, so it probably should be in our list. There's a picture below, courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons.

And, Vizzelina, there is also a ruotini pasta, which is a wheel-shaped one - but it seems to be less common, and I can't find it in any English dictionary, so I'm not inclined to add it to the list, even if you were suggesting it, which you weren't.

So rotini will go into our list. Buon appetito!

[Viz]

well, i call those things Eliche - (some italian derivation of helix i imagine) and i can probably supply documentary evidence via a Barilla packet which i may just have in the pantry- but anyway - always happy to have more pasta - yum

[biggerbirdbrain]

Bring on the Alfredo sauce! Thanks, Alan.

How about a lip-smacking smilie, YUM!

 
3-B

[Alan W]

This seems to be an area that is crying out for standardisation. Shh - can you hear it? standardise me!

Some websites state that eliche is simply another word for fusilli, which is the word most familiar to me for a corkscrew-shaped pasta. But some list the two types separately, without clearly defining the difference. To add to the confusion, rotini is often described as another spiral type, but it is sometimes listed as a synonym for ruotini, that is, a waggon-wheel shape.

Probably needs some extensive research in the field.

[biggerbirdbrain]

Whichever it is, bring a little wine and garlic bread. The research will be much more 

Thanks, Alan - cute smilie!

Cheers,
3-B