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transmogrify : 2nd meaning OED : astonish, confound. (edit) - Thanks Jackie for sp correction ...  (/edit) On that note, I was looking at the Shorter OED CD list and came upon "ambigu" a banquet at which a medley of dishes are served together. Naturally, I looked up "buffet" entries : a blow; a low stool; a sideboard or recessed cupboard for china; beat, strike, thump, knock about. Not a word about food in the buffet list! So how come we don't have have ambigus instead of buffets? And , stating the obvious, could it have something to do with the English custom of having breakfast foods set out on a side table or buffet as opposed to the US custom of a buffet's being a meal laid out on a main table from which people select the food for their plate? OR, maybe Buffet because you have to knock someone down to get to the food before they scoff it all up! wow
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Being a great fan of mystery novels & stories, particularly English ones, I gather from their description of breakfast in a country house that it was laid out like you describe because breakfast was not regimented as to time or even attendance (unlike dinner, which had a warning in the form of the dressing gong and then announced by a gong). Apparently it was available from 8:00 a.m. or so up to 10:00 for those who cared for it and you had a wide choice of foods, from toast, coffee and juice (like modern breakfasts) up to devilled kidneys (ugh!) and broiled tomatoes.
As to what is served how, I have read that in the 19th century it was customary at dinner to have almost everything that was to be served on the table at once and the diners served themselves and passed the plates around. This was called, I believe, Continental or French service. It was replaced in the last couple decades of the century by Russian service, which was to have the various courses succeed one another and served by the butler/footmen/maids who presented platters to each guest in turn, who helped themselves, leaving no platters on the table. This, of course, has become standard restaurant service.
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In one of my previous careers, I was in the catering business. We used to promote either buffet or family style service. Buffet service could be managed with 3 service people for about 300 guests. With family style "almost everything that was to be served on the table at once and the diners served themselves and passed the plates around" I could get away with about 1 wait person per 6 tables. Formal / "Russian service" the most 1 wait person could handle was 2 tables.
CJ
CJ
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Carpal Tunnel
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So how come we don't have have ambigus instead of buffets?
wow
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I've heard transmogrify used to mean "to change something into something else." In the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, Calvin had a cardboard box which was his "Atomic Transmogrification Device" or something, and he'd jump into it and emerge as a monster or some other non-little-boy creature.
So, this sense of the word may not be correct, but at least my reference is impeccable.
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Carpal Tunnel
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In the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, Calvin had a cardboard box which was his "Atomic Transmogrification Device"
Or just plain Transmogrifier as I remember it. It may have changed from incarnation to incarnation.
I remember one episode wherein he and Hobbes transmogrified each other (they hand a hand-held model) so many times that they forgot which was who.
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Transmogrifier it was - and sometimes I know how they feel, not knowing who's who. So - is this a legitimate use of this word, or did our cartoon heroes just adopt it for their own uses? I know I could LIU - but I always do that, so this time I just ain't gonna. Hey - it seems that the original sense of this, as presented by wow, does end up being applied in the comic. The comic strippers  end up using the transmogrifier to astonish and confound themselves - perhaps that was the purpose of the device all along. Perhaps I should refrain from posting for a bit. [/ramble]
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Pooh-Bah
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In reply to:
So - is this a legitimate use of this word, or did our cartoon heroes just adopt it for their own uses?
The confound and astonish sense of transmogrify is the secondary meaning. The primary meaning is as used by Mr Waterson: to change into a different shape or form, especially one which is fantastic or bizzare. (American Heritage) Webster's says its origin is unknown. I wonder at the redundancy of meaning among transmogrify, transmute, and transform. Now, where is that philosopher's stone???
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Carpal Tunnel
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I wrote : transmogrify : 2nd meaning OED : astonish, confound.
(edit) - Thanks Jackie for sp correction ... (/edit)
On that note, I was looking at the Shorter OED CD list...
The transmogrify bit was an introduction to my astonishment at a different set of words : ambigu vs buffet.
Now the subject (ambigu/ buffet) transmorphs into Calvin and Hobbs!
Oh! the delightful Magical Mystery Tour of the Board.
wow
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Maybe we don't have ambigus because you'd never be sure what you were eating, or how you felt about it. 
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