Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related UK versus US English: Smackdown 2004

No, actually, we'd call it tomato sauce or some variant of "Neopolitan". I think 'marinara' as a term for tomato sauce for spaghetti is actually a US invention. We (and probably the Italians) would expect marinara to have something marine-related in it, like fish or shell-fish.

Yvonne

Okay, I'm dropping in briefly to add my two pence worth...

Clotted cream and whipped cream are different -- and, Wendy, how can you possibly prefer whipped cream? That is a poor, poor alternative to clotted! Then again, maybe I'm showing the scars of having been brought up in the South West of England, where clotted cream is a particular specialty. (I escaped the local cider addiction, though. Thankfully.)

I can't remember the details, but I'm sure that making clotted cream involves putting pans of milk over a gentle heat. Whipped cream comes in a rather runny, liquid form and has to be, yes, whipped.

On the subject of geography, this thread reminds me of something a professor once said to me about all the geography questions in Trivial Pursuit: "That's not geography. That's general knowledge!" And another geographer once said to me that he might not know where somewhere was, but he knew how to find out. Isn't that, after all, what maps, atlases and gazeteers are for?
I will, however, spare you the discussion of just what geography is and what geographers do.

Chris (who studied geography for more years than she cares to think about)

Eek!!! Paul!! Maple syrup on cottage cheese?! Personally, I find that pineapple tidbits and a touch of cinnamon tastes *much* better. Some weird <g> people at my last job would put salsa in their cottage cheese! Blech!

Well...actually, Lynn, there is tomato sauce and there is marinara sauce...and meat sauce and...well I could go on . /me raises her hands...yeah? So what if I work at the Olive Garden? <g> Tomato sauce more smooth in texture...I imagine pureed tomatoes or tomato paste with water mixed in. Now marinara sauce OTOH, is more chunky in texture, often with diced onions and mild spices added in. But...this is what I know of US "Italian food" (though...they do say that all our recipies come from the Olive Garden Culinary Institue in Tuscany ...but I've gone on *far* too much about this ).

But at this:

Makes sense to me, Yvonne. Silly Americans!! :rolleyes:

Sara (who's now starting to wonder if she should ask El what all these Italian words on most of the wine bottles mean...then I can impress my managers )

Just thought I'd comment on this since it's what I do Those of us in the theatre world in the US spell it theatre. Now of course most people (not all) that aren't in the theatre world spell it theater and it looks wrong to me. Always has. But then I guess theatre looks wrong to non theatre people.

I'm the same on the theatre/theater remarks. Theatre is the stage, theater is the big screen. Except when I go to amctheatres.com... it's no wonder my fingers automatically type re.

Sorry, Lynn, I've just read this.

Chicken salt is a mixture of crushed bar-be-qued chicken skin and salt. It has a very salty taste. The tomato sauce we put on chips is the same as your ketchup. We also put tomato sauce on spaghetti but it is entirely different. It is usually made from fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, other herbs, and sometimes has capsicum or mushroom in it. I know, we call both of them tomato sauce and they're nothing alike.

Anything marinara has a sea food in it.

Tricia

As salty as vegemite?

- Laura (who may still have some vegemite left in the cabinet )

On the tea issue-- we always boil the water in a teapot (tea kettle in the UK?)-- usually metal with a spout, cover, and handle and set onto the burner. Then the boiling water is poured over the teabag in the cup... or poured over the teabags or loose-tea-in-a-tea-ball in ANOTHER teapot (the ceramic kind you set on the table). My mom always put milk in our tea when I was growing up-- in northern Indiana near Chicago-- and the first time I had lemon in it was probably as a teenager. My parents were both born and raised near Chicago, never went to England, so I don't know where the milk habit came from. It was always milk into the tea, by the way. I still prefer my occasional cup of tea with milk, unless I have a sore throat... then it's honey and lemon.

My mom also used to make Russian Tea: equal parts Tang (powdered orange drink) and freeze dried tea (like Lipton's ice tea mix), about half the amount of sugar and a bit of cinnamon and cloves, and you pour boiling water over a couple of tablespoons of the mix in a mug. We drank that a lot in the winter time, to warm up.

Like Paul, I associate the words "cheese curds" with cottage cheese-- but have never, never liked anything sweet on it-- no pineapple or any of that. NEVER EVER heard of maple syrup on it-- can't imagine how that would taste, and I have no intention of ever finding out! :p I love to eat potato chips (the UK crisps) with cottage cheese-- my favorite way to eat cottage cheese is as a dip for potato chips. My 9 year old daughter likes to use Frito corn chips with cottage cheese. The 6 year old won't even taste cottage cheese.

The mushy peas thing-- ick! I like peas ok, although I'm not allowed to eat 'em anymore. (There's too much vitamin K in the dark green veggies, and vit K interferes with blood thinners. This is actually pretty rough since I'm a vegetarian-- kinda hard when you can't eat any green veggies!) Anyway-- I'd want 'em with butter and salt. The only way I'd ever ingest a mushed pea is if it's part of pea soup. :p

The Duo Tang things-- locally, we call 'em three-prong folders, or three-prong binders if they don't have the pockets.

I've heard of ensuite, entree, serviette, and mickey. Wendy's correct that many restaurants list their main dishes under the header of "Entrees"... I personally also use the word to mean "entering" ("The role was his entree into the professional world..."). And "ensuite" is used a lot to describe a room which "comes with" a bathroom-- like a "master bedroom" in real estate language. That brings me to
Yeah, never heard that... I'm familiar with 1/2 bath (sink and toilet), 3/4 bath (sink, toilet, shower) and full bath (sink, toilet, shower, and tub). As a matter of fact, my husband and I built on to our home a couple of years ago-- added a third car garage, covered the storm shelter (no longer out in the middle of the side-yard) and added a large room (currently the "playroom") and bath. WE considered it a full bath, as it allows the occupant to bathe as well as all the rest-- but because it has "only" a sink, toilet, and shower, it's considered a 3/4 bath. So I had a lot of fun with adding up our bathrooms for an imaginary real estate ad: we started with 2 and 1/2 baths, now added a 3/4 bath-- so we have how many baths? Let's see, change the "1/2" to "2/4" and add them up, that's 2/4 + 3/4 so we have 2 and 5/4 baths which is 3 and 1/4 baths ... I don't know, I can see somebody trying to figure out what, exactly, a 1/4 bath is!

~Toc (who didn't really intend to ramble on quite this long...)

Cheese curds? Aren't those the deep-fried things you get at the MN State Fair after standing in a really long line? Or in Wisconsin, take your pick.

Jelly -- to me, this is the stuff you spread on your toast, if you're so inclined. Or it can be jam, but either way, it's not jello.

Either swimming suit or swim suit is used more commonly here, but maybe it's a regional thing.

It's probably regional. I say "bathing suit". My 21 year old sister says "bay-ling suit".

I am still not sure what to say about mushy peas and cheese curds except that it kind of scares me. But I am an insanely picky eater. I generally don't eat things that are red, mushy, stringy, or dry.

- Laura

My friend's 3 year old says "baby soup".

- Vicki (who usually says "swim suit")

Janet said:

Actually, that's just a kettle. And in the UK and Ireland (can't speak for the rest of Europe) we've been using electric kettles for years. Hardly anyone uses stove-top kettles any more, and you never find electric kettles shaped to look like stove-top ones, yet these seem to be the majority of electric kettles on the American side of the Atlantic. We had a lot of difficulty finding a simple, good-quality kettle of the sort we had in the UK: cordless with a sealed element.

Like this:



Ensuite is common in the UK/Ireland too. But we only ever use the term 'bath' to refer to a bath - the thing you climb into and soak for hours while reading a good book. Otherwise it's a bathroom - but only if it has a bath or shower in it. If not, then it's just a toilet, or if one wishes to be coy, then a cloakroom. But then, coyness runs in both directions. I remember the first time I saw an advert for diahorrea medication on TV - in the US, of course; I was shocked! In the UK and Ireland, we're very reserved about such things - even advertisements for tampons never even hint at what they're used for.

Speaking of being coy, what's with 'restrooms'? Or 'washrooms' in Canada? When I'm out and need to use the toilet, it's not that I need to have a rest or to wash! Again, in the UK or Ireland, you'll see signs directing you to toilets. Or, occasionally, public conveniences.

One more thing, and changing the subject: Pasta v Noodles!

UK, Europe, I guess Australia: pasta is that Italian stuff you use to make lasagne, spaghetti Bolognese, tagliatelle, macaroni and so on. Noodles are used for chow mein and in stir-fries - ie for Chinese, Thai, Malaysian etc food. Noodles and pasta have different ingredients, according to Elena.

So I was taken aback to discover in the US/Canada something called 'pasta noodles'. As in 'place the lasagne noodles in the dish'. )

When I first came to Puerto Rico, many years ago, I was surprised to see a deodorant commercial where the model was putting the deoderant on their underarm. In the US commercials, the model would rub the stick on their forearm. (I always thought that was so silly. Do they still do that?)

- Vicki

LOL, Laura! An ensuite is usually off the main bedroom, and has a shower and toilet.

Tricia

Just caught up on the thread, there are so many things I want to comment on I had to write it down not to forget. <g>

Before starting on the whole tea/milk/whatever thing, I want to mention that I had a Russian/Ukranian upbringing - not English or American or Canadian.

My mom always made loose tea. She used teabags for a while when we came to Canada, but soon came back to loose. She uses pure ceylon tea and used to mix it with green tea - she stopped now, and I'm glad she did. <g> I like my ceylon tea with no milk, and no other kind of tea.

I am what my friends call a milkaholic (one even called me a Dairy Queen :rolleyes: ), but I don't like milk in my tea. I wasn't brought up to have it with milk, and my mom and grandmother always made my tea black with sugar (that's not what stops me from liking it - I just don't). I can't stand tea without sugar. My mother always says I put way too much sugar in - 2, sometimes 3 tea spoons to a teacup! I realize that it is a lot, and bad for me, but otherwise I don't like it very much. My cousin once tried it and went, "You got enough sugar in there to kill a horse." I was surprised, and I think it was then that I realized I was the freak in the family. <g>

I don't think it's odd at all - I completely share this opinion. I don't drink tea if it's boiling hot - I put in half a cup of boiling water and then add some cool boiled water - But I like it to be fairly hot. Nestea seems to be popular among my classmates, but I tried it once and couldn't even bring myself to finish that can. I thought it was really bad.

Tea, as I was taught, is good for eye infections. I had a pretty nasty one this summer, and my mom made me wash my eyes out with tea every night (cold tea <g>). Not sure if it helped, though, because besides that I also had eye drops. <g>

For sore throats I always had tea with lemon, and sometimes honey, but always in addition to sugar. Also, chewing on a piece of lemon with honey is good (and kind of tasty ).

As for coffee, I only have it on mornings when I am having trouble waking up, and even then I make it only caffeined enough to wake me up. I don't like the taste or smell particularly. I put in about half a tea spoon of instant coffee, 2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar, some boiling water, and lots of milk. Sometimes I put in a little bit of ice cream.

When I go to Tim Horton's, I don't order coffee, but always hot chocolate. I even order that in McDonalds sometimes. Milk chocolate and hot chocolate are my addictions since I can remember myself.

About the jam/jelly - I always considered jelly to be that thing they call Jell-O. Jell-O is not the correct name, but only the brand name of it which stuck - the technical name is jelly. Jam is what you put on toast or bread and sometimes have with peanut butter (though I never tried that combination and don't intend to).

As for fries, my friends always have them with ketchup, but I like them plain and hot. Chips are the ones that come in bags. <g> I never tried poutine, though they have it in my school's cafeteria. Sounds quite (in the US sense of the word <g>) good!

As for the binders, we call them three ring binders. Or just binders. And folders are the ones with no rings, just pockets on both sides to hold loose paper.

About bathrooms - when I lived in Israel, we had a shower, a tub, and a sink in the bathroom, and the toilet separately. I never used the shower, though - it was always just there, but we always showered in the tub. /me hopes that makes remote sense. It was really only in Canada that I realized toilets come with the bathroom. And here we have a tub, a sink, and a toilet - no shower. Not that I need it. <g> Wendy brought up another thing - a bath is where you sit for hours and soak with a good book. Just how exactly do you do that? I find that if I try to take a book in there with me it'll end up extremely wet.

As for the 711's, we've got plenty of 'em here. I like to tease my friend and say she lives in a 711, because that's her apartment number. <g>

Julie (who thinks this was more than a measely 2 cents )

Yeek. I can't even imagine using an electric kettle, but that's just me. Of course, I've never even seen one. I used to make my tea in the microwave, and still do when I go visiting, but I love my stovetop kettle. *pets it*

Restrooms are also a US thing. I guess someone, somewhere, figured it was more polite than bathrooms. Though some restaurants get creative for the men/women's signs on the door. I know instead of Women's or Ladies, Outback uses Sheilas. And I haven't figured out how to read properly in the bath yet. Even with wiping my hands on towels, the book still gets wet. I'm trying to figure out how to use the laptop there, though.

Actually, the technical name is gelatin. Jell-O Brand Gelatin. Though I prefer their chocolate pudding. Yum. To me, jelly is fruit spread with no real fruit. Jam is made with real fruit.

To me, Jello is gelatin. Jelly is fruit and sugar, boiled to a mash, then strained and allowed to gel. Jam is fruit and sugar, boiled to a mash and allowed to gel without straining first.

People in Puerto Rico use 'jelly' to refer to gelatin. I thought they were just mis-translating. I didn't know there were places in the English-speaking world that used the word like this. So, I learn something new everyday. (By the way, they also call hair-gel 'jelly' here.)

A rest room is the polite way to say bathroom. (The super-polite way, I suppose, would be to say 'powder room'.) A bathroom may or may not have a bathtub. It always has a toilet. Toilet, of course, being a flushable seat-like device, not the room itself.

- Vicki

Ohhh, I can tell my restroom story!

I grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, and when I was at school I had a weekend job as a waitress in one of the tearooms there (touristy name for cafe/restaurant). As you can imagine we got lots of tourists, often from abroad, and often American, you developed a nack for dealing with cultural differences.

It was Tom's first day (not his real name), and this American man walks in, obviously fairly well-to-do (Several big cameras/camcorders slung round his neck). He walks up to Tom and asks if he could use the restroom. Tom innocently replies:

"I'm sorry we don't have one of those, but you can take a seat at the table in the corner if you like."

The man's face was a picture!

This incident beat my 'Bubble and Squeak' woman, another American I'm afraid. She asked me what bubble and squeak was (fair enough - it's fried mashed potatoes and leaks), but then couldn't grasp the idea that bubble and squeak was one complete dish. She kept saying "So that's the bubble, but what's the squeak?", and so it went on for several minutes...

Just to balance it out, we had our fair share of Brits who didn't get it. Such as the guy who sent back the clotted cream because it had 'gone off' (no, it's supposed to look like that), and prefered to have squirty cream out of a can (the only other alternative we had to give him).

Helga

Helga!! Your restroom story is *too* funny!

- Vicki

LOL, Helga. Thanks for sharing.

About the noodles... I'm not sure what happened on which side.

Dictionary.com says this about "noodle":

It further notes that the word comes from the German "Nudel," but, since I don't speak German, I don't know how that word is used.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, "pasta" is a subset of "noodles." All pasta is noodles, but there are noodles that are not pasta. The definition above clearly includes pasta, as far as I'm concerned.

Their definition of "pasta" is:

Glancing through history, this makes sense. Pasta was created when Marco Pollo went to China and discovered noodles. He brought the idea back, and tried to reproduce it with local grain. Those efforts led to pasta, a more or less new type of noodle.

In China, there are many different kinds of noodle, but the main distinctions are regional. In some areas, noodles are made with wheat flour, as they are in Italy (although the Italians use Semolina, which, IIRC, is a variety of wheat native to the area). Lo Mein noodles, for example, are very similar to spaghetti. In other areas, the most common grain is rice, and in those regions, you see rice noodles. Chow Mein noodles, glass noodles, etc.

In all cases, the idea is the same. It's just a matter of using rice or different kinds of wheat to make the flour.

So, Lo Mein, Chow Fun, Chow Mein, Spaghetti, Linguini, etc etc... All are noodles. Pasta are Italian-style noodles. Chinese noodles are an equally large subset, which includes rice noodles as well as some more pasta-like varieties.

Like I said, I don't know why the meaning is different in the UK than in the US and Canada, but I wonder if the change this time was made on the UK side.

Paul