Different words for the same things depending on which country you're in.
Replies
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Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »Well no, because nearer all soft drinks are owned by Coke or PepsiCo. Coke own Sprite, Fanta and a lot of others. Pepsi owns 7up, Mountain Dew etc etc. So technically all soft drinks are Coke (or Pepsi, I guess)
Pizza 73 has a deal at the moment where you get two pizzas and "four cans of Coke". But for your drinks you can actually choose between Coke/Diet Coke/Coke Zero, ginger ale, Nestea, root beer or Sprite.
I worked as a waitress in the UK for a short time (many years ago!), and the restaurant carried Pepsi rather than Coca Cola. We were all explicitly told that if a diner asked for "a Coke" we were to say "We only have Pepsi, is that okay?" (If they wanted another type of soft drink they'd ask for it by name, since the term "coke" wasn't used, at least back then, to mean anything other than Coca Cola.)
I've also heard the generic term "cola" used both in the UK and Canada, to cover both Pepsi/Coke and all the other brands of cola that are around these days.
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I would be most pissed off if i asked for coke and they gave me a pepsi, or anything other than what i asked for, which is coke
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I may risk being branded a heathen here, but I can't really tell much difference between Coke and Pepsi!
But I know a lot of people prefer one or the other, which is why we waitresses were told to point out we didn't have Coke if that's what was asked for. Sometimes people didn't want Pepsi instead!
Weirdos... 0 -
Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.
Fish and Chips
I'm definitely from the south, because I was expecting white gravy. The kind you'd put on chicken fried steak. Which has no chicken and isn't even fried like chicken, it's fried like steak, dipped in milk and eggs and flour and served with white gravy. I'm not sure if I think that poutine looks good or not, but I would try it0 -
@KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi
Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.
I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!
I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.2 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »
A bum is someone who won't work. Only used for "butt" when being silly of 1) deliberately polite.KeithWhiteJr wrote: »lauraemily84 wrote: »Haha love this thread! So bum is called fanny in America ?? Haha sorry I'm confused !! In U.K. Spite is a brand of lemonade with lime
I use the term bum or butt. But my kids will laugh hysterically if I use the work "fanny" in front of them.
Touché...but...still no...KeithWhiteJr wrote: »KeithWhiteJr wrote: »Cool that you started this:
Canada - US
pop - soda
burger - dinner plate
poutine - "who the *kitten* puts cheese curds on fries???"
double-double (coffee with double sugar, double cream)
Timmy's - Dunkin' Doughnuts
Canada - Australia
fifty-fifty (10% cream)
I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree more with this list...
I live in the US and everyone here uses the term "Pop" for soft drinks. If someone says "Soda" they are usually read the riot act lol. Also, who calls a burger a "Dinner plate"? I have never heard that term!
Personally I'm a Large black coffee kinda guy, but, every morning my wife gets a Double Double when we go to Tim Hortons. There is 1 Dunkin' near me (not close enough to walk to) and 5 Timmys within a bike ride to my house.
We also have a poutine restaurant downtown that is extremely popular.
Am I living in some kind of weird Canadian version of the US and nobody told me?
Nope, I am in NC (from FL) and I do not use the term pop ever. I say soda, or use the word coke in a general way.
I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".
It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".
With the exception of puffs, Kleenex is the only known brand name of facial tissue and I don't think there is another name brand name for bandages other than bandaid.
With contenders like Pepsi, Dr Pepper, 7up, mt dew, etc., it's more like calling all motor vehicles "Fords" even if they're actually Chevys and Chryslers.KeithWhiteJr wrote: »I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".
It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".
Or calling all vacuum cleaners "Hoovers". I don't vacuum, I do the hoovering... even though mine is a Shark not a Hoover!
I didn't even know hoovering was a word except for the 2) one time I heard it used as a euphemism for scarfing down food...
1) What means this? It's not every something I've been accused of.
2) I'm familiar with a different euphemism. One that shan't be discussed, but is another way to bring all the boys to the yard, that doesn't involve milkshakes.1 -
Scarfing down food means to shove it quickly into your mouth and eat massive amount in short time - eg in those ridiculous eating contests0
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@KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi
Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.
I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!
I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.
Here in big bad Alberta we measure travel in hours too. We're kind of like Texas North with our massive oil sands.1 -
@KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi
Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.
I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!
I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.
Here in big bad Alberta we measure travel in hours too. We're kind of like Texas North with our massive oil sands.
Yup, I'm in Western Australia and distance to country towns is usually described in hours rather than km... Albany is about four hours south. Although if you are actually going any distance within the state, then you would use days... Broome is about 2 days drive. Or more likely flying time - Broome is 2 and half hours flight away. Distance interstate would always be flying hours - Sydney is up to five hours flight away (depending on wind and weather).
Oh, that reminds me of another numbers thing - when working with a US software developer on a learning-about-money program many years ago I had to explain that his way of announcing numbers didn't work.
He set it up to say "thirty three dollars fifty two cents" and I had to ask for "thirty three dollars and fifty two cents". The "and" really mattered!0 -
@KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi
Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.
I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!
I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.
Here in big bad Alberta we measure travel in hours too. We're kind of like Texas North with our massive oil sands.
Ditto Michigan (the hours, not so much the oil). We do tend to use miles once you're in town & "15 minutes" would be ambiguous, i.e, is it a 5 mile 15 minutes with low speed limits and a bunch of stop lights, or a 10 mile 15 minutes on a good-speed unimpeded back road.
I get the feeling that my friends on the more-congested east coast maybe use miles more often because more of their driving is unpredictable like that. I can't believe how long it takes to drive just a few miles in someplace like Boston! Not sure, though.
In Michigan, we also point at our hand to show where a city is. (It takes two hands if you have to do both peninsulas.)
On the "scarfing food" thing, we'd also use it for smaller amounts of food under certain circumstances, such as "he scarfed all the chocolate before I could get any."0 -
I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy.
A buggy to me is either a baby's pushchair (that sit-up style as opposed to a "pram"), or the seat thingy that the Amish ride in.
Your groceries go in a "cart" here, whereas in the UK that was what you'd put behind a horse. A shopping cart is a "trolley" there. Oh, and you park your car in a car park, not a parking lot. A building with several levels for parking was a "multi-story car park", not a "parkade".
Liquor stores in the UK are called "off licences" (often shortened to "the offie"), because they're selling booze off licenced premises (i.e. not in pubs and bars). Although you can also buy alcohol in many supermarkets in the UK, which you can't here. I think that surprises a lot of overseas visitors!
Hubby and I still say we're "going to the offie" to get some booze rather than "to the liquor store". I've realised that I still use quite a lot of British words, even though I've got used to many of the Canadian versions now!
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pebble4321 wrote: »Oh, that reminds me of another numbers thing - when working with a US software developer on a learning-about-money program many years ago I had to explain that his way of announcing numbers didn't work.
He set it up to say "thirty three dollars fifty two cents" and I had to ask for "thirty three dollars and fifty two cents". The "and" really mattered!
Oh, yes! The missing "and" bugs me too! On the rare occasions I have to write a cheque (not a 'check'... ), I include the 'and'. It bothers me when someone says something like "fifty two hundred" rather than "five thousand two hundred", and I've even seen it written on cheques that way! 1 -
I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy.
A buggy to me is either a baby's pushchair (that sit-up style as opposed to a "pram"), or the seat thingy that the Amish ride in.
Your groceries go in a "cart" here, whereas in the UK that was what you'd put behind a horse. A shopping cart is a "trolley" there. Oh, and you park your car in a car park, not a parking lot. A building with several levels for parking was a "multi-story car park", not a "parkade".
"Parking ramp", "parking garage", or "parking structure", here.Liquor stores in the UK are called "off licences" (often shortened to "the offie"), because they're selling booze off licenced premises (i.e. not in pubs and bars). Although you can also buy alcohol in many supermarkets in the UK, which you can't here. I think that surprises a lot of overseas visitors!
Hubby and I still say we're "going to the offie" to get some booze rather than "to the liquor store". I've realised that I still use quite a lot of British words, even though I've got used to many of the Canadian versions now!
"Party store", usually. "Beer store", sometimes, even if it has other alcohol.
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Christine_72 wrote: »I would be most pissed off if i asked for coke and they gave me a pepsi, or anything other than what i asked for, which is coke
I get the impression that the wait staff expect me to be all upset when I ask for a coke and they've only got pepsi. Meanwhile I'm looking at them thinking, yes, that's what I asked for ... a coke-like substance.
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Oh the booze thing.. You can buy alcohol in tegular grocery stores in America/Canada right?
we call the booze shop a bottlo (bottle-o), short for bottle shop . Aussies have a knack of shortening words.1 -
Here's one ... I'm not sure if we've talked about it yet ...
Cheddar cheese.
In Canada, cheddar cheese is easily identifiable by its bright orange colour (and somehow I thought cheese came that colour). Same with cheese slices.
But apparently cheese is actually white-ish (of course it is ... after all, it's from milk), and so there is no bright orange cheese here in Australia. Cheddar is white, like all the other cheeses.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Oh the booze thing.. You can buy alcohol in tegular grocery stores in America/Canada right?
Not in my part of Alberta... I don't know if you can in other parts of Canada though.we call the booze shop a bottlo (bottle-o), short for bottle shop . Aussies have a knack of shortening words.
I've noticed that... took me a little while to realise what "this arvo" meant when I first encountered it! 0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Oh the booze thing.. You can buy alcohol in tegular grocery stores in America/Canada right?
In the US it depends on the state, you can in Illinois.
And I'm with you on the ordering Coke thing -- if I order a diet coke and they say "oh, sorry, we only have diet pepsi," I'll normally say "oh, okay, water is fine."1 -
Here's one ... I'm not sure if we've talked about it yet ...
Cheddar cheese.
In Canada, cheddar cheese is easily identifiable by its bright orange colour (and somehow I thought cheese came that colour). Same with cheese slices.
But apparently cheese is actually white-ish (of course it is ... after all, it's from milk), and so there is no bright orange cheese here in Australia. Cheddar is white, like all the other cheeses.
Red Leicester is orange, in the UK, but pretty much everything else is yellowish-white as far as I remember. The colour of Canadian cheddar was a bit off-putting at first! (I wasn't even sure it could be called cheddar, since it used to be that cheese could only be called "cheddar" if it was made in the Cheddar Gorge area of England. A bit like how "champagne" could only be made in a certain region of France - not sure if that's still the case either!)
I'd like to buy Red Leicester here, but it's stupid expensive - about $9 for a tiny wedge. I don't miss the taste of it THAT much! (In fact, cheese in general is expensive. It was a bit of a shock to us! You'd think, with all these cows around the place, it would be cheaper - but I guess they use them all for beef and not dairy products...!)0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Oh the booze thing.. You can buy alcohol in tegular grocery stores in America/Canada right?
we call the booze shop a bottlo (bottle-o), short for bottle shop . Aussies have a knack of shortening words.
As for alcohol, in the US it depends on the state. I am in NC, and we can buy beer and wine in the grocery store (except for Sunday morning). But for hard liquor, we have special ABC package stores that are tightly regulated. In FL, hard liquor could be found at liquor stores, which were often right next to regular stores, and had late hours (in NC, you have to buy hard liquor by 9pm).
ETA When my parents lived in Arkansas, their county was dry. No liquor at all. Had to cross county lines.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Oh the booze thing.. You can buy alcohol in tegular grocery stores in America/Canada right?
You couldn't in Manitoba when I lived there.
And it seems to me people in Manitoba called the Liquor Marts "LC" ... as in, "I'm going to the LC, want anything"
(LC for Liquor Commission)
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As for alcohol, in the US it depends on the state. I am in NC, and we can buy beer and wine in the grocery store (except for Sunday morning).
Oh, yes, I forgot about that! Even though we could buy alcohol in a supermarket (any kind, from low-alcohol beers to full strength whisky and vodka), you couldn't buy it on a Sunday. They would rope off those aisles, and if someone sneaked under to grab a bottle the cashier would refuse to ring it up. I don't remember if off-licences were closed on Sundays or not, though.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »Oh the booze thing.. You can buy alcohol in tegular grocery stores in America/Canada right?
And I'm with you on the ordering Coke thing -- if I order a diet coke and they say "oh, sorry, we only have diet pepsi," I'll normally say "oh, okay, water is fine."
Haha that made snort :laugh: I'd say the exact same thing!
Pepsi.. Cokes watered down, flat cousin
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I expect coke when I ask for coke too.... If someone gave me a Pepsi, they could have it back!
Not food... But is anyone a musician?
UK/Australia vs USA note types
Quaver = eighth note
Crotchet = quarter note
Minim = half note
Semibreve = whole note0 -
Here's one ... I'm not sure if we've talked about it yet ...
Cheddar cheese.
In Canada, cheddar cheese is easily identifiable by its bright orange colour (and somehow I thought cheese came that colour). Same with cheese slices.
But apparently cheese is actually white-ish (of course it is ... after all, it's from milk), and so there is no bright orange cheese here in Australia. Cheddar is white, like all the other cheeses.
I've heard that orange cheese called "American cheese". I'm surprised it hasn't popped up in our stores yet.
And why is it orange?? What do they put in it to make it that colour?0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Here's one ... I'm not sure if we've talked about it yet ...
Cheddar cheese.
In Canada, cheddar cheese is easily identifiable by its bright orange colour (and somehow I thought cheese came that colour). Same with cheese slices.
But apparently cheese is actually white-ish (of course it is ... after all, it's from milk), and so there is no bright orange cheese here in Australia. Cheddar is white, like all the other cheeses.
I've heard that orange cheese called "American cheese". I'm surprised it hasn't popped up in our stores yet.
And why is it orange?? What do they put in it to make it that colour?
Used to be annatto. I don't know what food coloring is used now.
Here, the cheese called "American Cheese" is not just any orange cheese, but a particular type of orange cheese. Usually very mild/bland. "American Cheese Food" - weird gummy slices, not exactly identical to "American Cheese".
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Christine_72 wrote: »Here's one ... I'm not sure if we've talked about it yet ...
Cheddar cheese.
In Canada, cheddar cheese is easily identifiable by its bright orange colour (and somehow I thought cheese came that colour). Same with cheese slices.
But apparently cheese is actually white-ish (of course it is ... after all, it's from milk), and so there is no bright orange cheese here in Australia. Cheddar is white, like all the other cheeses.
I've heard that orange cheese called "American cheese". I'm surprised it hasn't popped up in our stores yet.
And why is it orange?? What do they put in it to make it that colour?
Used to be annatto. I don't know what food coloring is used now.
Here, the cheese called "American Cheese" is not just any orange cheese, but a particular type of orange cheese. Usually very mild/bland. "American Cheese Food" - weird gummy slices, not exactly identical to "American Cheese".
These are what I think we'd call" cheese slices " in Australia, as opposed to sliced cheese.
Cheese slices (what I call plastic cheese) are individually wrapped in plastic, and kind of gummy like you describe. You can also buy sliced cheese - sliced versions of proper cheese.0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »Here's one ... I'm not sure if we've talked about it yet ...
Cheddar cheese.
In Canada, cheddar cheese is easily identifiable by its bright orange colour (and somehow I thought cheese came that colour). Same with cheese slices.
But apparently cheese is actually white-ish (of course it is ... after all, it's from milk), and so there is no bright orange cheese here in Australia. Cheddar is white, like all the other cheeses.
I've heard that orange cheese called "American cheese". I'm surprised it hasn't popped up in our stores yet.
And why is it orange?? What do they put in it to make it that colour?
Used to be annatto. I don't know what food coloring is used now.
Here, the cheese called "American Cheese" is not just any orange cheese, but a particular type of orange cheese. Usually very mild/bland. "American Cheese Food" - weird gummy slices, not exactly identical to "American Cheese".
These are what I think we'd call" cheese slices " in Australia, as opposed to sliced cheese.
Cheese slices (what I call plastic cheese) are individually wrapped in plastic, and kind of gummy like you describe. You can also buy sliced cheese - sliced versions of proper cheese.
Yeah, that stuff. People usually just call it "American Cheese Slices" here but "Cheese Food" is one alternate term, as is "processed cheese". But one occasionally sees an actual cheese called "American Cheese", or used to. I can't recall having seen it in years.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Oh the booze thing.. You can buy alcohol in tegular grocery stores in America/Canada right?
we call the booze shop a bottlo (bottle-o), short for bottle shop . Aussies have a knack of shortening words.
As for alcohol, in the US it depends on the state. I am in NC, and we can buy beer and wine in the grocery store (except for Sunday morning). But for hard liquor, we have special ABC package stores that are tightly regulated. In FL, hard liquor could be found at liquor stores, which were often right next to regular stores, and had late hours (in NC, you have to buy hard liquor by 9pm).
ETA When my parents lived in Arkansas, their county was dry. No liquor at all. Had to cross county lines.
I live in a semi dry county in Texas. We can buy regular beer in the grocery stores but not the higher alcohol content beer like Guinness. We can't buy wine or liquor at all in my county. But lots of places do sell wine and beer in the grocery store but not liquor. Liquor stores are closed at 9 pm and also on Sundays. You can buy beer and wine at the grocery store or convenience stores on Sunday, but you have to wait until noon. I think Oklahoma actually has their own low alcohol beer which isn't as strong as the beer in Texas and probably most other states.0 -
There are cheese slices (the plastic-wrapped things) of course, but this is what cheddar cheese looks like in Canada ... perhaps even darker orange sometimes.
And this, which I never see here in Australia, is marble cheese - white and orange cheddar ...
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