I think the real problem is with words that already had meanings, but the meanings were not preserved. So I see some place selling Middle Eastern food in Toronto, go and buy some only to see that it is some unholy deviation from the original. If only we could be a bit more Cognac about preserving our food names.
Or recognize that foods evolve differently in different cultures?
If I go to Chicago as an Italian and eat pizza there, I might think that their weird thick pies are an "unholy deviation from the original," but I won't deny them the right to call it "pizza." Even in Italy we have one word ("pizza") but recognize it means very different things in different regions.
(It's quite possible that whatever middle eastern food you ate was actually cooked in a traditional manner for a specific locale, but it simply wasn't the version you'd ever had before.)
Well, yes, as a mexican living in the U.S. I am frequently dismayed at the use of "pico de gallo" and "burrito", and even tried to resist, but it is a losing battle. Now even the american use of burrito has made its way back to México and I fear younger generations grown up with the american version instead. I'll be over there on my corner all grumpy, then be forgotten.
