Different words for the same things depending on which country you're in.

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Replies

  • 5n00py
    5n00py Posts: 125 Member

    .....Then there's: kgs/lbs. centimetres/inches/feet. Kms/miles. Grams/ounces. Litres/gallons.

    That's it for now, my brain needs a rest lol

    Apart from metric used around most of the world, the US redefined the measures of what used to be called Imperial.

    e.g. 1 Imperial gallon = 4.54609 litres whereas 1 US Gallon only = 3.78541 litres,

    An (Imperial) ton does not equal a (US) ton, and neither of them equal a metric tonne. Ton and tonne are pronounced the same, so when someone says "ton(ne)", there's 3 possibilities of how much weight is meant.

    Then there's fluid ounces, tablespoons, cups, pints, teaspoons also all different..... If you don't know if the recipe you've been given is using US measures or Imperial measures, you may very well waste a lot of ingredients on something that is not at all what the recipe describes!

    A Billion used to be 1 million x 1 million, but is now redefined as 1 thousand x 1 million, similarly Trillion is what used to be Billion.

    A kilobyte is actually 1,024 bytes, but it is now "popularly" deemed to be only 1,000 bytes (Even Google's convert tool has it wrong!)..... Similarly, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte are also all shrunk. It seems peculiar that data measures in computing (most of which is designed in the US) have been morphed in a pseudo metric system, but all the old feet, inches, gallon measures are still firmly in place in the same country.

    Only US do dates 'mm/dd/yyyy'....... 9/11 is actually the 11th of September and not the 9th of November as the rest of the world would expect.

    And then there's the spelling! Apart from the US redefining "English", textspeak and common usage are morphing and redefining the language into who knows what in another few generations.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    You must be, because i've lived in 5 states from oregon to california, to texas, to montana, to louisiana and we have ALL called it soda.

    And dunkin donuts is crap compared to krispy creme or shipley's.





    We had a Krispy Kreme here, but, Tim Hortons put them out of business lol.

    Shipley's is something I have never heard of...

    How is that possible???

    Timmy must die.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    You must be, because i've lived in 5 states from oregon to california, to texas, to montana, to louisiana and we have ALL called it soda.

    And dunkin donuts is crap compared to krispy creme or shipley's.





    We had a Krispy Kreme here, but, Tim Hortons put them out of business lol.

    Shipley's is something I have never heard of...

    How is that possible???

    Timmy must die.

    I hate Tim's. The only thing I like is their candy cane hot chocolate and frozen lemonade (but you can get it at other places too so it isn't special).
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,966 Member
    jgnatca 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? :o

    You must be. Lol. I have never heard a person in real life say "pop" unless they were talking about their dad or grandfather. We say coke around here and a few say soda. I never heard of Tim Hortons or poutine (still not sure what that is) until I came on this site. But I have also never heard of a burger being called a dinner plate.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    You must be. Lol. I have never heard a person in real life say "pop" unless they were talking about their dad or grandfather. We say coke around here and a few say soda. I never heard of Tim Hortons or poutine (still not sure what that is) until I came on this site. But I have also never heard of a burger being called a dinner plate.

    Which part of the south are you from?
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,966 Member
    Texas. My dad was from South Carolina.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    You must be. Lol. I have never heard a person in real life say "pop" unless they were talking about their dad or grandfather. We say coke around here and a few say soda. I never heard of Tim Hortons or poutine (still not sure what that is) until I came on this site. But I have also never heard of a burger being called a dinner plate.

    It's pop or fizzy drinks in the uk.
    Soda = soda water !
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    edited January 2017
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma all say "pop." I'm sure there are more but those are the ones I can say for sure based on experience.
    Areas in the deep south (like Alabama) tend to call everything coke. "Would you like a coke?" "Sure." "What kind? We have Mt Dew, Sunkist, Dr Pepper or Pepsi." "So you don't have Coke?"
    I know the St. Louis area says Soda and I think maybe the New England states.

    I have never seen poutine but I have been to Tim Hortons. We used to have one in the area but I think it's closed.
    I like Dunkin Donuts but there is no donut that even comes close to a fresh Krispy Kreme.
    Eating a Krispy Kreme is like eating a baby angel.

    I grew up saying pop in western Pennsylvania, but changed to saying soda when I went to university in upstate New York.

    A researcher, while at North Carolina State University, conducted a survey of 122 questions on how Americans pronounced or used different words. The researcher's website is no longer accessible on the web, but the following links have the a) list of questions with a link to maps and detailed statistics and b) a link to the Ny Times which published the survey questions from 2013.

    a) https://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

    b) http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0 {this link may require a subscription, I've got one so it works for me}


    The question was...

    105. What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage?

    This is a good image of the plotted responses for this question.

    dti99oihvk64.png
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,953 Member
    jgnatca 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? :o

    FWIW, my part of Michigan/US is like this, too. Not lots of poutine, but you see it on menus occasionally here, and I think our Dunkin/Tim's distribution is closer to even than your NY observation, but pretty similar. Up in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan, aka "yoop"), Michiganders even talk like stereotyped Canadians, eh?
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    edited January 2017
    I was born in a part of South Florida where we were actively discouraged as children in school from using any sort of regional specific slang, primarily because it was an extremely transient area with most of my fellow students being people who moved there from other parts of the country or other countries. Because we were a popular tourist destination we would have a lot of people come visit and order things or ask things using their own regional dialect and then they would look at us as if we were the idiots because we didn't know what they were talking about.

    Here are some that I picked up on over the years:

    Sub/Submarine sandwich: Depending on where you're from in the US it can also be called a Grinder, a Hoagie, or a Hero sandwich.

    Also, those little spine-covered plant seeds that snag on your skin and get in your dog's hair and are painful to get out? Depending on where you're from they're either Burrs (short for Cockleburr, which is the actual name), Jaggers, or Stickers.

    Finally, what most people in the country refer to as Cheaters are, in a relatively small yet densely populated pocket in the northeast, called Patriots.

    EDIT: Also, in terms of the debate of pop vs. soda, it's very much a regional thing. The US is a huge country and different regions have completely different dialects. TECHNICALLY soda is the "proper" one, but in the northern half of the country they use pop a lot. In certain areas of the south, like Georgia, everything is referred to as a coke. The brand-specific name is used to refer to ALL soft drinks.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
    jgnatca 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? :o

    Yes. If you call soft drinks "pop", have Tim Horton's near you and eat poutine, you might as well be in Canada. :)

    I was born and raised in Southern California - soft drinks are "soda", there's not a Tim Horton's anywhere to be found and I'd never even heard of poutine (or cheese curds, for that matter) until I visited Michigan for the first time. And a "Double Double" isn't a coffee drink, it's a burger from In-n-Out Burger.
  • KeithWhiteJr
    KeithWhiteJr Posts: 233 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    FWIW, my part of Michigan/US is like this, too. Not lots of poutine, but you see it on menus occasionally here, and I think our Dunkin/Tim's distribution is closer to even than your NY observation, but pretty similar. Up in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan, aka "yoop"), Michiganders even talk like stereotyped Canadians, eh?


    Until a few months ago our Dunkin' ration was much higher. One day almost all of them closed. They didn't even tell the employees they were closing. People showed up for work, but there was no job. :open_mouth:
  • KeithWhiteJr
    KeithWhiteJr Posts: 233 Member

    Finally, what most people in the country refer to as Cheaters are, in a relatively small yet densely populated pocket in the northeast, called Patriots.

    AMAZING!


  • KeithWhiteJr
    KeithWhiteJr Posts: 233 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    Yes. If you call soft drinks "pop", have Tim Horton's near you and eat poutine, you might as well be in Canada. :)

    I was born and raised in Southern California - soft drinks are "soda", there's not a Tim Horton's anywhere to be found and I'd never even heard of poutine (or cheese curds, for that matter) until I visited Michigan for the first time. And a "Double Double" isn't a coffee drink, it's a burger from In-n-Out Burger.



    What is "In-n-Out"??
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    Yes. If you call soft drinks "pop", have Tim Horton's near you and eat poutine, you might as well be in Canada. :)

    I was born and raised in Southern California - soft drinks are "soda", there's not a Tim Horton's anywhere to be found and I'd never even heard of poutine (or cheese curds, for that matter) until I visited Michigan for the first time. And a "Double Double" isn't a coffee drink, it's a burger from In-n-Out Burger.



    What is "In-n-Out"??

    An American fast food restaurant
  • KeithWhiteJr
    KeithWhiteJr Posts: 233 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    Yes. If you call soft drinks "pop", have Tim Horton's near you and eat poutine, you might as well be in Canada. :)

    I was born and raised in Southern California - soft drinks are "soda", there's not a Tim Horton's anywhere to be found and I'd never even heard of poutine (or cheese curds, for that matter) until I visited Michigan for the first time. And a "Double Double" isn't a coffee drink, it's a burger from In-n-Out Burger.



    What is "In-n-Out"??

    An American fast food restaurant



    I live in America lol. We don't have those here.
  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    Yes. If you call soft drinks "pop", have Tim Horton's near you and eat poutine, you might as well be in Canada. :)

    I was born and raised in Southern California - soft drinks are "soda", there's not a Tim Horton's anywhere to be found and I'd never even heard of poutine (or cheese curds, for that matter) until I visited Michigan for the first time. And a "Double Double" isn't a coffee drink, it's a burger from In-n-Out Burger.



    What is "In-n-Out"??

    An American fast food restaurant



    I live in America lol. We don't have those here.

    Generally regionally...primarily in California.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    jgnatca 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? :o

    Yes. If you call soft drinks "pop", have Tim Horton's near you and eat poutine, you might as well be in Canada. :)

    I was born and raised in Southern California - soft drinks are "soda", there's not a Tim Horton's anywhere to be found and I'd never even heard of poutine (or cheese curds, for that matter) until I visited Michigan for the first time. And a "Double Double" isn't a coffee drink, it's a burger from In-n-Out Burger.



    What is "In-n-Out"??

    An American fast food restaurant



    I live in America lol. We don't have those here.

    You don't live in the right part of America. :D

    In-n-Out Burger

    We don't have White Castle here in the Southwest either (except in Las Vegas, where they have everything), but I do know that they exist in America.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I truly admire those of you who can lose weight and live in America. I've seen your portions sizes, cheap food prices, amazing fast food restaurants and the fact that you add peanut butter to just about everything. I can say with all certainty that i'd blow up to whale size in short order if i moved over there. I'd be like a kid in a candy store!
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    I like Dunkin Donuts but there is no donut that even comes close to a fresh Krispy Kreme.
    Eating a Krispy Kreme is like eating a baby angel.

    We had to go to London a couple of times for medical examinations before we got our visas, and Harrods has a Krispy Kreme counter inside it. (Or had, at least - not sure if it's still there.) We bought a box of donuts there each time partly because Krispy Kremes are amazing, but also partly because we got a Harrods bag to carry them home in and felt like millionaires for shopping there! ;)

    It's pop or fizzy drinks in the uk.
    Soda = soda water !

    Yeah, it was always just (e.g.) "fizzy orange" to us rather than orange pop or orange soda. Things like Coke, Dr. Pepper, Lilt (I miss Lilt!!) were called by their actual names.


    @Christine_72 I so badly want a double oven so that I can have a separate grill and oven again! I can't do both at once! (They are ridiculously expensive though. Canada is behind the times in many ways, IMO, when it comes to kitchen technology! (Unless you want an enormous fridge.) I mean, front-loading washing machines are only just becoming more affordable here, and we owned a cheap one in the UK nearly 30 years ago...)

    My oven ("stove") in the UK was very much like your picture, except that the top part could be used as a smaller oven as well as a grill. The one my parents had when I was kid was like your picture though, with just a small grill on top.

    And apologies for the shrimp/prawns thing - I'd only heard that phrase on TV! I wasn't sure if they were actually the same creature or not, but they were prawns in the UK too. Prawn cocktail crisps, anyone? :) (Prawn cocktail in a martini glass, or an avocado stuffed with prawns, were haute cuisine as far as I was concerned! Definitely a fancy starter in a restaurant!)