(07-03-2020 08:59 PM)Grungy Wrote: (07-03-2020 04:28 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: (07-03-2020 03:52 PM)georgewebb Wrote: (07-03-2020 12:56 AM)baker-13 Wrote: (07-01-2020 08:20 PM)georgewebb Wrote: I really wish Rice would rename West Lot to something less likely to cause confusion. "Stadium Lot" has a nice ring to it.
Then again, one of the serveries near the east end of campus (the one just east of Abercrombie Lab) is called West Servery. :(
To be fair, that servery is west of what was briefly East Servery. It just doesn't seem like it because we think of campus on the main axis of the loop, which isn't actually true east-west. (Source: I overthought this way too much at the time and finally pulled out the map to figure it out.)
Of course, the most accurate naming would be renaming the current south servery West, the current West Servery North, and the current North servery East. But that's neither here nor there.
About 10 years ago, I submitted a thoughtful proposal to give each server a distinctive name that reflected the colleges it served. Obviously it was not acted on.
About 60 years ago, each college had its own commons, distinctively named after the college.
IMBM, but I think they still do.
Each commons then connects to a shared servery.
60 years ago the food really sucked.
That is no longer the case.
It helps to remember that the terms commons, servery, and kitchen each mean something different:
- Kitchen = where the food is cooked.
- Servery = where you pick up your food.
- Commons = dining hall (i.e. where you sit down to eat). Each college has its own -- this is hasn't change.
Old system:
- One single kitchen (Central Kitchen).
- This kitchen supplied food by truck to eight different serveries (which were also called "kitchens" although their cooking facilities were limited).
- Each servery served a single commons.
New system:
- Each servery has its own very complete kitchen.
- Each servery serves 2-3 commonness.
Common parlance has always somewhat conflated the food-prep and food-serving functions, but the nature of the conflation has changed:
- In the old system, each college's kitchen and servery were lumped together as a "kitchen".
- In the new system, each servery's kitchen and serving area are lumped together under the term "servery".