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What is the difference between うまい and 美味{おい}しい when _talking about food_? I
suppose they can be used interchangeably in most cases, but when should I
prefer one to the other?

~~I've seen a number of examples where うまい is translated as "sweet". Am I
correct in my assumption that one should refer to, let's say, spicy food as
美味しい but never with うまい?~~ **Edit** : in this assumption I must be confusing
あまい vs. うまい when kanji is used.
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2014-03-09T13:43:57.763
14812
2014-03-10T04:30:08.613
2014-03-09T14:06:56.650
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question
usage nuances
Difference between うまい and 美味しい when talking about food
There is no difference in meaning between 「おいしい」 and 「うまい」 --- "delicious",
"tasty", "yummy", etc. --- but there is a difference in usage and nuance.

「おいしい」 sounds more refined and often more feminine than 「うまい」. 「うまい」 sounds
more down-to-earth and intuitive, and it could carry a small amount of light
vulgarity.

If you were a Japanese-speaking parent, you would probably not want to hear
your little girl use 「うまい」. Even if your kid were a boy, you would still not
want him to use it too often until he was, like, out of elementary school. I
am actually speaking from my own experience here. I am male so I usually
somehow got away with saying 「うまい」 as a kid, but my sister did not. Our mother
basically never used the word herself nor did she allow her daughter to use
it.

After a few decades, however, more women definitely use 「うまい」 like it was
nothing. On TV shows about food, you might hear young women use 「うまい」 almost
as often as they use 「おいしい」 these days.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-10T04:30:08.613
14820
2014-03-10T04:30:08.613
14812
answer