'Fun' Facts About Aging (one man's XP)

[Greg]

I researched the cookie vs biscuit thing yesterday and discovered that Americans are apparently the odd ones out on this one and I found this quote from Oxford Dictionary humorous on the subject:

Quote

A British biscuit is an American cookie and an American cookie is a British cookie and an American biscuit is a British scone and an American scone is something else entirely.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think British chips are more akin to American steak fries in that they are thick slices of potato whereas American fries can be thin, thick, curly, waffle, or whatever else. It's also kind of funny that American chips have no bearing on British chips especially given that American chips can be made from corn, wheat, vegetables, or a variety of other plants. Now that I think about it, we also have sweet potato fries.

[z929669]

1 hour ago, TechAngel85 said:

That one will take some work, but what are your thoughts on these:

• apartment vs flat
• car windshield vs windscreen
• cookie vs biscuit
• french fries vs chips
• gasoline vs petrol
• ...the unnecessary "u" in words (armor vs armour)
• ...what cigarettes are referred to over there is considered hateful language here and might start a fight

What are "traffic lights" or "stop lights"? In ZA, they call them "robots."

Or the "tube" vs the "subway" or "l-train" (in Chicago)

55 minutes ago, Greg said:

I researched the cookie vs biscuit thing yesterday and discovered that Americans are apparently the odd ones out on this one and I found this quote from Oxford Dictionary humorous on the subject:

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think British chips are more akin to American steak fries in that they are thick slices of potato whereas American fries can be thin, thick, curly, waffle, or whatever else. It's also kind of funny that American chips have no bearing on British chips especially given that American chips can be made from corn, wheat, vegetables, or a variety of other plants. Now that I think about it, we also have sweet potato fries.

"chips" are flat and rigid, so "fries" seems more applicable.

[GSDFan]

Reminds me of the George Carlin, “Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?", quote from his act.

[Greg]

2 minutes ago, GSDFan said:

Reminds me of the George Carlin, “Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?", quote from his act.

This tends to be a head-scratcher until you do a bit of research and discover these terms were coined in the 1800s in the horse-and-buggy days. A parkway was a road or path through a park for those lovely afternoon slow rides and a driveway was a path through a yard or field typically to a the barn door if I understand it correctly.

[CaptainKumquat]

On 5/15/2024 at 9:40 PM, TechAngel85 said:

That one will take some work, but what are your thoughts on these:

• apartment vs flat
• car windshield vs windscreen
• cookie vs biscuit
• french fries vs chips
• gasoline vs petrol
• ...the unnecessary "u" in words (armor vs armour)
• ...what cigarettes are referred to over there is considered hateful language here and might start a fight

Flat and apartment are kind of interchangeable these days. People will know and use both.

Windshield sounds like some trademarked technology used to sell weatherproof jackets to me. We'd use windscreen, yes.

Cookies stand on their own from biscuits, mainly due to branding, but some would say a cookie is just a biscuit with chocolate pieces.

French fries are different from chips. Chips are thicker, but you could call french fries thin chips. Fries is just quicker to say though, I guess.

You'd have a problem calling petrol gas because when someone says gas, then 99% of the time someone will think of natural gas.

Dropping the u is just a difference in simplified English vs traditional English.

I don't like using that slang. For no other reason than I just don't like it along with the word loo. Mostly acceptable to me is ciggie, but I personally prefer cigarette in full. Same with loo, but that sounds way too posh, so toilet, bathroom, bog or crapper is fine.

Seriously though, this... That is all.

[CaptainKumquat]

On 5/15/2024 at 11:22 PM, z929669 said:

"chips" are flat and rigid, so "fries" seems more applicable.

They are usually flat or crinkle cut. I've had Five Guys fries, and they were thicker than McDonald's, so kind of an inbetween vs traditional British chips. FG's were incredibly salty though, even moreso than McD's. I thought that was impossible, but nope.

On 5/16/2024 at 1:40 AM, GSDFan said:

Reminds me of the George Carlin, “Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?", quote from his act.

What about freeways? I very much doubt they are all toll free now, right?

[DoubleYou]

26 minutes ago, CaptainKumquat said:

They are usually flat or crinkle cut. I've had Five Guys fries, and they were thicker than McDonald's, so kind of an inbetween vs traditional British chips. FG's were incredibly salty though, even moreso than McD's. I thought that was impossible, but nope.

What about freeways? I very much doubt they are all toll free now, right?

We only have a few toll roads around me. By at large the freeways are toll free.

[CaptainKumquat]

2 hours ago, DoubleYou said:

We only have a few toll roads around me. By at large the freeways are toll free.

That's good. Ours are nearly all on large bridges. I have personally come across only one, but you only payed the toll one way. I asked about this, and the guy in the booth told me bluntly that it's because the bridge crosses two counties, and one was nicer than the other.