Today's dismay: currants

[kaberett]

From the department of "divided by a common language": earlier today I was Very Upset about the US use of "coffee cake", which is apparently not a cake flavoured with coffee but rather a (style of) cake eaten with coffee.

(The recipe blog intro writes itself, really; things I am already considering include some kind of poppyseed coffee cake and of course rhubarb coffee cake, which is what precipitated this particular discovery.)

This was upsetting enough by itself but Subsequent Digressions lead to the discovery that apparently in North America "currants" with no other specifiers by default means Ribes, probably blackcurrant, and not, you know, the dried grape.

... via going "hey, this EYB recipe specifies 'currants' as an ingredient for teacakes, but I've previously been informed that that means Ribes fruit not dried grapes, surely some mistake?" and getting back, approximately, "what makes you think dried grapes are relevant??? the version of the recipe in the Guardian just says 'currants'??????"

(The linking step was being Extremely Indignant about having it patiently explained to me that "coffee cake" is like "tea cake". Apparently BUT THE FRUIT SHOULD BE SOAKED IN TEA THOUGH is not a robust defence.)

Comments

[pseudomonas]

rhyming with "bamboozle" I think.

[fyreharper]

Coffee cake being coffee flavored is weird to me! (…also I do not like coffee, and do like US!coffeecake, which I’m sure affects the degree to which I am >:-( rather than :D about the idea :p )

[fyreharper]

Tea cake being bread and tea loaf being cake, though. o_O Why is language like this.

[fyreharper]

“stroo-sel” (same s sound both times; same vowel sounds as in noodle), at least for California!English

Re: digression

[kaberett]

Ooh, thank you for rec!

[kaberett]

... I would indeed never have guessed that. What.

[pseudomonas]

¯⧵_(ツ)_/¯

Re: digression

[madgastronomer]

You're welcome! I hope you enjoy it!

[kaberett]

(double backslash -- it's treated as an escape character the first time it shows up!)

[steorra]

This is reminiscent of my experience (coming from Canada). Growing up I knew dried currants to be the little mini-raisin-y things that are apparently also called Zante currants (but I didn't know that term). My mom would put them in scones, mostly.

But it was not until much later that I realized that they are so raisin-y because are actually a kind of dried grape, completely unrelated to blackcurrants and other "currant"-labelled things that are Ribes-based.

[pseudomonas]

in this instance, I just switched from markdown to HTML.

Re: digression

[pseudomonas]

Video unavailable

The uploader has not made this video available in your country

:(

[mme_n_b]

It's a classic Russian joke: "Seller, is this currant white or black?" "It's red." "But why is it white?" "Because it's green"

foreign currantcy exchange: the crustimony proseedcake

[vass]

Every time I look at this post I understand less about fruit.

Illustrative online supermarket screencaps to follow via Discord.

[rugessnome]

Yes, my ~southern Midwest AmEnglish says it that way. Much like "Strudel", actually, but with a rather Anglo "s" swapped for the "d" and probably a bit careless with the last vowel compared to the German pronunciation.

(I know enough German that the original pronunciation oughtn't actually be surprising, but I'd just never thought to re-examine the word with a thought to German phonology.)

Re: foreign currantcy exchange: the crustimony proseedcake

[kaberett]

......... that sure is a comment title

Re: digression

[madgastronomer]

Try this one or this one, or try searching for "krtek trousers" on youtube, or the full Czech title is "Krtek: Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel".

Re: foreign currantcy exchange: the crustimony proseedcake

[vass]

Half the credit/blame goes to A.A. Milne.

[lokifan]

:spluttering indignation:

[alexseanchai]

meanwhile, because Australia is also separated by a common language:

I've had this confusion with Americans before and my experience is that if you say "mince", whether they automatically assume you're talking about fruit or meat seems to be regional. Even if they do assume meat they usually assume pork or chicken, whereas in Australia the default mince assumption would be beef or lamb (although those others are available, just less commonly eaten). Every American I've heard talk about beef mince has instead called it ground beef.

— derinthescarletpescatarian

[highlyeccentric]

It’s like pants. The online “divided by a common language” jokes about pants v pants was the first time I even noticed a UK:US difference because we use pants for both and i don’t recall ever being confused/embarrassed by it.

Ditto chips. Lots of kinds of chips, we somehow always know what kind we mean - the only time i remember encountering confusion in all-Aus conversations is chip sandwiches.

[sfred]

In my specific childhood bit of North/West Yorkshire, "pants" means both; it's usually clear which from context.
However, "vest and pants" always means underwear, e.g. "if you forget your PE kit you'll have to do gymnastics in your vest and pants". It's therefore hilarious to me that in USEng, "vest and pants" means "waistcoat and trousers".