Dialect part 4: food

Apr 04, 2008 17:19

Discussion on pikelets and crumpets has inspired to me to ask some further questions about food. This one's more international, I think:

Food questions )

dialect, food and drink

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Comments 25

phoebesmum April 4 2008, 16:45:59 UTC
Yes to all of the above, I believe. I wasn't allowed many sweets (you wouldn't think it to look at me now), but, on the rare occasions I went to play with my friend who was, I had a bizarre fondness for aniseed balls. I still love licorice comfits and can't buy them in case I eat the entire packet! (If I did, the results would just serve me right for being such a pig.)

Here's another one - slang terms for going to the loo. My mother said 'spend a penny', which is, oh god, oh god, just agonising to me in its tweeness. Quite honestly, I find 'having a pee' less offensive.

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the_marquis April 4 2008, 18:08:22 UTC
Oddly I find "spending a penny" polite, so we all know what's going to happen without the detail.

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phoebesmum April 4 2008, 18:17:46 UTC
I just hate it. Really, really, really hate it. Sorry!

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rustica April 4 2008, 18:26:10 UTC
I prefer "going to the lavatory", which has no actual TMI in it whatsoever :)

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the_marquis April 4 2008, 18:14:45 UTC
Most of yours match mine.

12 = Many of them are classics that seem to have gone away and then come back and so still available: Spangles, refreshers, sherbet fountains, sherbet dips/dib-dabs, space-dust (limited time only; it got withdrawn for some reason), curly-wurly, chewits, opal fruits (for long car journeys), PK chewing gum (rare treat), cough candy twists, army & navy, peanut brittle, those hard lolly-pops made seemingly of hardened powder in changing layers of pastel colours, parma violets, love hearts, pez blocks, the toffee chocolate balls (like a toffee malteser) in a blue bag, there was a peanut version in yellow too.

13 = Snaffling Irons

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rustica April 4 2008, 18:29:29 UTC
12. Polos - I remember when they were 6p a pack. And Opal Fruits - made to make your mouth water. And Pyramints - do you remember those? They were little dark chocolate pyramids filled with that minty goo that they used in minty eggs. Oh, minty eggs! Flying saucers! Gummy Cola bottles (with or without the fizz)! And those little bags of mixed sweets you used to get for 10p.....

*has to go and lie down*

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philmophlegm April 4 2008, 19:03:38 UTC
1. Describe a muffin Mostly small spongey cakes made with things like chocolate chips and blueberries (i.e. the American sort). I distinctly remember watching Sesame Street once and hearing something described as an "English muffin", and am vaguely aware that this is not the same thing ( ... )

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the_marquis April 4 2008, 19:43:39 UTC
Oh wow Texan bars, half a centimeter thick nougat with chocolate! Only the chocolate almost always fell/flaked off

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gileswench April 4 2008, 19:57:34 UTC
And here's an American perspective...though possibly not as typical as possible ( ... )

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ladyofastolat April 5 2008, 07:13:27 UTC
re. English muffins: I'm always amused by the fact that pretty much anything that has another nationality attached to its name turns out to be something that people from that country wouldn't recognise at all. evilmissbecky was outraged by the pizza topping that was named "The American" on the menu of a London restaurant. I can't remember what it consisted of, but she swore that no American would ever put that thing on top of a pizza.

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gileswench April 5 2008, 07:28:40 UTC
evilmissbecky was outraged by the pizza topping that was named "The American" on the menu of a London restaurant. I can't remember what it consisted of, but she swore that no American would ever put that thing on top of a pizza.

Okay, now I'm curious. Considering the range of things I've seen put on pizzas in this country, I'm beginning to wonder what Americans won't put on them. Maybe we wouldn't put octopus on pizza, but I'm having trouble thinking of much of anything else considered a food item that I haven't seen on one.

Of course, one must remember that I live in California, and the coasts tend to be fairly adventurous in a culinary sense.

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ladyofastolat April 5 2008, 08:05:45 UTC
I could be remembering wrongly, but I believe it was sweetcorn - which Americans just call corn, don't they? (To us, "corn" is something different.) I think the topping might have been pepperoni and sweetcorn.

I'm having trouble thinking of much of anything else considered a food item that I haven't seen on one.

Chocolate?

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