We were in Quebec on holiday in early September and we stayed a few nights in Quebec City. It lived up to its reputation for charm so of course it was overrun by tourists seeking charm. We had some excellent food there and ate one night at Resto Vigne.
Nurit and I at the fancy resto in the Frontenac Hotel
I assumed that the name was French. It turned out that “resto” is fairly new slang for restaurant. We saw it on a couple of other places on this trip and a simple Google search turned up at least one “Resto” restaurant in Phoenix. This is the evolution of language. Words on the Move a very interesting book by John McWhorter gives many examples. Restaurant is a long word with odd spelling it deserves to be replaced by a new modern short word that does the job better. It is not a done deal and as McWhorter points out English changes unpredictably but I’ll go out on a limb and predict that in the next 20 years: “Resto will become an acceptable substitute for “Restaurant.” Suck it up.