To hate the word "pudding?"

[Misswrite89]

I hate it when people use the word pudding instead of dessert. AIBU?

*scouse, not spouse.

spouse accent.

I use dessert or afters, maaaaaaybe depending on what I'm asking I'll say 'sweet'. Guess that makes me the lowest of the low

YABU it's pudding here.
We have it after tea.
It's a bit snobby to insist on a posh word and dessert to me sounds a bit meh.

Not sure if it's a northern mackem thing though? Nobody I know says pudding, unless they mean a Yorkshire pudding

MadamDePomPom, it is thick and kind of gloppy, but it doesn't have to be chocolate. It can be chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, tapioca, pistachio, banana, etc. Made from scratch it has milk, cream, butter, cornstarch, and whatever flavor you want. You cook it until it's thick. It's pretty similar to custard.

100% pudding. 'Sweet' makes me feel a bit queasy...

Speaking as a Canadian, I had always taken pudding to be, (oh, how to put this ), a "common" way to say "dessert". Dessert can be anything sweet that you eat after the main meal, and which might include a "pudding" which is a creamy dish that can come in different flavours, chocolate, vanilla, and my favourite, butterscotch.

(Also, under the category "problems with 'p' words": "public schools"? This confused me for years. Whenever I read about "a typical public school type", I thought, well, I went to a public school and this guy doesn't sound like me at all.)

Steff, your post has now made me hungry for pudding.

It is just a class issue.
Dessert is like toilet and pardon. Goups of us would never say that.

It's just how the English differentiate themselves from each other. Never take it seriously but you can divide people into those who say pudding and dessert and you get a lot of brownie points if you're in the pudding camp.

I don't understand those who say things such as "dessert is cold and light" It's not. It's fruit/nuts/cheeses. It's not pudding, which can be mousse, puddings, etc. hot or cold. If it's wrong, it's wrong and not a matter of opinion.

I think it's the same in the US Andy.
We were on holiday with some Americans & they were surprised when we called it pudding.
But they called main courses Entrees too.

'Afters' here or dessert.

I don't mind the word pudding but I get irrationally annoyed when people say they're having a piece of fruit for pudding

Andylion, I know, pudding is good. Butterscotch is my favorite, too, but I have an excellent recipe for banana pudding.

Go on then Dawnedonagain... show us your evidence for that

The only definite difference is that a pudding can be sweet or savoury (rice pudding and black pudding) and dessert must be sweet!

All else is personal preference, not right or wrong!

Who knew the use of 'pudding' was considered a class marker?
I think that's the funniest thing I've read in ages.

Everyone I knew (very working class mining community) referred to the course served after the main meal as 'pudding' when I was a nipper, whether it was a piece of cake or a biscuit. Although, most of the time, it involved a liberal portion of custard.

Pudding here too, I wince when I hear dessert.

Of course it's a personal preference. But if you are at all interested in class indicators, then the use of certain words to mean certain things is a pretty reliable one. And pudding for the sweet course that follows a meal is most definitely an upper middle class/upper class usage. Whatever that sweet course happens to be. Dessert is fruit and nuts eaten after pudding. The sort of thing most people put on the table after Christmas dinner to nibble at.

Obviously it doesn't actually matter what you call any of it. But some people will make assumptions. (people on here have said that "pudding" is "snobby", for example) So it is useful to know.

Whenever I read about "a typical public school type", I thought, well, I went to a public school and this guy doesn't sound like me at all.

The British usage which means that a "public school" is in effect the same thing as a private one, and not the same thing as a free government-provided one, is indeed confusing. (Though I believe among fee-charging schools there is a distinction between public and private which is to boring to refresh my memory about.)

The explanation of the term "public school" I really like is that in ancient times people would hire a tutor for their children, so when the first schools (Eton etc.) were founded it was the first instance of the sharing economy. People could save money by sharing teachers rather than hiring private tutors. They were called public schools because anyone who could pay the fees could use them. I really like the idea that Eton is for the plebs who are too poor to hire tutors.

You wince when you hear the word dessert? That doesn't make you middle class, you know, Peace? Get over yourself...

Crushedninjas- I bet that if,mom a special occasion you had, say, an ice cream sundae or some strawberries and cream you wouldn't have called that pudding.......

I've always said dessert (not a Brit). Pudding is a baked cake served warm with cream and sauce. Dessert is the all-encompassing meal that is served after dinner.

Mind you, I also say dinner for my evening meal, not tea, so you probably think I'm a heathen anyway.

Sorry, Bertrand, but I disagree. In my life*, pudding is the preferred word in upper class homes, dessert is so very MC aspirant.

Pudding is also very WC. Dessert is, it seems a try hard word, on the whole.

And I have never heard of dessert being fruit and nut nibbles

If people want to make it a class marker, that's fine. But they must be prepared to be challenged by those who just don't agree with whichever version they go for!

*Northern, working class, dockside upbringing.

Am I the only one who always hears 'pudding' said by David Walliams in that episode of Spaced...

The class market aspect is that it doesn't come from the French. Just as looking glass vs mirror, scent vs perfume, sofa vs settee, napkin vs serviette.

Doesn't make its usage right or wrong: it's just what you grow up with. My dc had a bowl of raspberries and a chocolate biscuit for their pudding at tea today.