“Oh yes, the food!” cried his wife, seizing the point. “They have the most extraordinary attitude to food.” “What, because they like it tasty?” I inquired with a thin smile. “No, my dear, the portions. The portions in America are positively obscene.” “I had a steak one time—” the man began with a little chortle. “And the things they do to the language! They simply cannot speak the Queen’s English.”
What is obscene here. Was the steak too small or too large? If only the husband had been allowed to finish. I’m also reminded of a joke from the opening monologue by Woody Allen in ANNIE HALL: Two women are eating dinner in a restaurant. One says, “This food is really terrible.” The other woman replies,
“Yes, and such small portions, too.”
