Acquired taste

You will hear this expression mostly in connection with food or beverages.  It refers to a food/beverage that most people likely will not appreciate the very much the first time they taste it but over time and with increased exposure one might – or might not – acquire a taste for it.

Durian fruit – definitely an acquired taste, pic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

The reason why one would need to acquire a taste for something generally is because it is unfamiliar or strong in one way or another, it could be taste, odor or even texture.

For example: I never acquired the taste for coffee.  To this day I can’t drink it unless I put so much sugar and milk in it that it becomes unrecognizable – but then it isn’t coffee.  Examples for acquired taste are many: asparagus come to mind, alcoholic beverages, capers, caviar, olives, things like that.

and so is coffee, pic: homemade-recipes.blogspot.com

When I think of odor I have a few French and German cheeses in mind that taste very well – if you can get yourself to put them in your mouth, that is, because of their strong “stinky-feet” odor.  Durian, the fruit that has an odor somewhere between “gym-socks” and rotten onions is another example.

Texture: oysters.  I know people who flat-out refuse to even try oysters because they are slimy.  Passion fruit might be another, it smells so delicious and then you open it and see but a few seeds in some gooey greenish liquid.

So next time an American friend or co-worker asks you to try something with the qualifier that it is a bit of an acquired taste you know what you are in for.

Eye of the beholder

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - even in Disney movies, pic: fanboy.com

This expression is most often used in the following context: “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.  It means that what is beauty or beautiful is different from person to person and each person has their own opinion about what is beautiful.

Here is an example:

“Hetty collects these figurines of dolphins, the whole house is full of them.  I think they are so ugly, but as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

or

“I have no dies what she sees in him I find him rather unattractive but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

The phrase can be used in other contexts, for example if somebody tells an off-color joke that you don’t find very funny but everybody else thinks is hilarious you could say “whether this was funny or not is in the eye of the beholder.”  If you say this unsmilingly it would suggest to the other people that in your eye it isn’t funny.”