AT MEALTIMES...

Hi English Philology students! I have found an interesting thing about food and language to show you. Pay attention and be careful with some words, when you search the meaning in the dictionary because some of them can be said in two different ways depending on the variety of English. I am talking about British English and American English. Surely you have seen this words a lot of times in dictionaries:  "X (AmE), Y ( BrE)".

There are a lot of words that can be said in a different way, depending of British English or American English, accent, but I am going to show you the words of food. They are some examples:

BRITISH ENGLISH	AMERICAN ENGLISH	TRANSLATION SPANISH
Annised	Anise	Anis
Aubergine	Eggplant	Berenjena
Biscuit	Cookie	Galleta
Chips	French fries	Patatas fritas
Joint	Roast	Carne asada
Potato Crisps	Potato chips	Patatas en bolsa
Sweet	Candy	Caramelo
Maize	Corn	Maíz
Beetroot	Beet	Remolacha
Candyfloss	Cotton candy	Algodón de azúcar
Cornflour	Cornstarch	Maicena
Lettuce	Romaine	Lechuga romana
Courgette	Zucchini	Calabacín
Double cream	Heavy cream	Nata rica en grasa
Prawn cocktail	Shrimp	Cóctel de gambas
Icing sugar	Confectioners’ sugar	Azúcar glas o en polvo
Mangetout	Pea	Guisante/Chícharo
Plain flour	All-purpose flour	Harina común
Skimmed milk	Skim milk	Leche descremada
Swede	Rutabaga	Nabo
Titbit	Tidbit	Golosina
Toffee apple	Candy apple	Manzana caramelizada
White coffee	Regular coffee	Café con leche
Wholemeal bread	Wholewheat bread	Pan integral

 

 So depending if you are in England or in America, you have to use the words of the first column, or the words of the second one. In the third column you have the meaning of the words in Spanish.

 I consider that it is an interesting post that I want to share with you, because you can travel to Great Britain or United Stated and you must know which word you have to use in each place.

See the difference with this image, the same word, but different food!

By María José Gómez