Long words on a menu mean high prices

Restaurants can be judged by the language of their menus: research | The Australian reprinted from The Times

THEY say you should never judge a book by its cover but it seems you can judge a restaurant by its language.
A linguistics professor has analysed the link between the wordiness of a menu and the prices the restaurant charges.
The use of long words to describe a dish is a clear sign of a high price, Professor Dan Jurafsky’s study of 6500 menus found. In fact, he calculates that for every extra letter in the description of a dish diners can expect an extra 20c to be added to their bill.
Professor Jurafsky, of Stanford University, California, concludes that expensive restaurants want to appear high class by giving the impression their clientele must be highly educated.
“You’re flattering your customers, but it’s also a bit of showing off,” said Professor Jurafsky, who details the research in his book The Language of Food. “Cheap places can’t do it because the diners want to know what they are getting. There isn’t that trust.”
Words such as “exotic” and “spicy” also raise the price of a dish, according to the study, while vague gushing adjectives such as “delicious”, “gourmet” and “hearty” feature more in cheap menus.

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