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I learned a word "バイキング". The meaning of this word in the dictionary includes
both "smorgasbord" and "all-you-can-eat buffet". However, as I know, there are
some differences between the two English word.

I also find an example sentence: 朝食はバイキング形式だって。

Can anyone suggest what this word refers to. Can I call all the kinds of
"serve-yourself" food as バイキング? Besides, how does this word get the meaning
like this while it should be "Viking" in English?
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2017-10-17T13:22:15.207
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2017-10-17T14:34:02.543
2017-10-17T13:27:54.163
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definitions
Japanese word バイキング
It may sound kind of funny, but at least one of the reasons is it comes from
the idea of vikings eating large amounts at feasts etc.
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2017-10-17T13:29:23.830
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I checked this one before when I researched the semantic shift of loanwords
for the question here. From my memory, when in 1950s a Japanese restaurant
owner watched an American movie which describes Vikings are eating what they
want as much as they want, he wanted to import the eating style to Japan but
it’s hard for Japanese to pronounce smorgasbord. Therefore he named all you
can eat buffet “バイキング”.

I often see 食べ放題 or ビュッフェ is more often than バイキング for all-you-can-eat style
recently.

I think There are similar posts about dramatic semantic shift of loanwords in
this site(ex: マイブーム).
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2017-10-17T13:35:11.983
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2017-10-17T13:48:20.013
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食べ放題 is "all-you-can-eat" (regardless of whether a waiter servers your food to
your table), and セルフサービス is "self-service" (regardless of whether your food is
provided at a fixed fee). バイキング usually means both 食べ放題 and セルフサービス. As far as
I know, バイキング is almost the same as _buffet_ in English. As many people began
to recognize バイキング is a weird 和製英語, recently I'm seeing ビュッフェ more often,
especially in classy restaurants.

For the etymology, see other answers.
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