To wonder why.. (brace yourself)

[BackAgainSlimLady]

Single cucumbers from the supermarket come wrapped in plastic.. but single courgettes don’t?

if you ask me.. courgettes have a slightly more fragile skin that cucumber.. so why the lack of protection?

Americans call scones ‘biscuits’ too. Absolutely moronic. 😂 (I have American family before anyone comes at me).

This is a UK based site. We say courgette. We also say aubergine.

Oh fuck, what have I started?

Zucchini. But where I lived had a huge Italian population, so that may have been a factor. Only learnt the Brits say courgette like the French when I emigrated.

Zucchini is Italian. I suppose if you are non-aboriginal Australian, descended of settlers, or American and the same, then you speak English but with additional words taken from other European settler languages and sometimes the indiginous languages. In the case of courgettes it seems in America and Aus people have settled on the Italian word for courgette, which is zucchini. I'm sure there are plenty of other nouns where that is not the case and you use the same word as in English, or a word from another language.

In Aus you call sweet potatoes Kumara which is what the Maori call them, I believe. That doesn't mean sweet potato is wrong. You call aubergines eggplants the same as Americans, but Italians call them melanzane.

By your logic, if zucchini is the only correct way then you should be calling your 'eggplants' melanzane.

just deserts
well i never
the punishment that one deserves

Yes it is. I didn’t know either

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/just-deserts-or-just-desserts#:~:text=Despite%20its%20pronunciation%2C%20just%20deserts,but%20pronounced%20like%20the%20sweet

In Britain we call them courgettes.

Americans call scones ‘biscuits’ too. Absolutely moronic. 😂 (I have American family before anyone comes at me).

Tbf it's pretty odd we call biscuits 'biscuits' as they're usually only cooked once. Unlike biscotti.

I was wondering that!

On the subject of crisps/chips I remember ordering a burger and chips when we were in the US and being disgusted that I got a burger and a bloody packet of crisps!

I apologise for making the thread get derailed.

Unless we think we can get away with exempting them from VAT, in which case we call them "cakes" however many times they've been cooked!

Tbh I found the diversion much more interesting than the original question

I get cucumbers from a local farm without plastic and they never go bad too quickly.

@WillIEverBeOk
How have you ever not heard the alternatives though?
I say courgette but know zucchini is the same thing. Same for aubergine/eggplant and coriander/cilantro.

Zucchini is a type of courgette, not all courgettes are zucchinis. If you grow them in the garden you can get various types of courgette seeds including Zucchini, some yellow ones as well.

I first read that as courgettes tend to be bought for intimate use😂

Why in the uk are courgettes sold by weight but cucumbers per unit? Also as there are many varieties of bananas, is there any country where people buy them by choosing a variety as for e,g I do when buying potatoes?

A bit of googling suggests that the eggplants that made it to Australia, Canada and USA were white and yellow versions so they did indeed look like egg plants when the produce was small.

To be fair it was the tone of your message that made people snap back.

Ooh, this would make a brilliant Venn diagram!

We are divided by our language so often! Apparently you have gravy on ginger snaps and custard creams (Both biscuits here) 😮:

However, the Italian word for aubergine is melanzana

Is it true that the ou and re spelling is French?

So colour, favourite, and centre, calibre.

...and that the English as a matter of respect did not discard the French influence but retained it? (so no dropping the u or switched to er ending). Think I read about this once, but no idea if it's true.

I'm Irish and we use the same English as those whose invented it. Always think it's bloody cheeky when a non English person tries to correct the English in regard to their own language.

Because Mumsnet is a British site and in the UK they are called courgettes.

And what you probably call "arugula" is actually rocket.

And the "h" is pronounced at the beginning of the word "herb".

And "biscuits with gravy" conjures up a revolting image of custard creams with Bisto.

Any more questions?

Just curious in the UK we have prawns = shrimps in other parts of the world but we also have shrimps smaller than prawns and called well shrimps.