Counting in American

It is confusing - some Americanisms are relics of English where it has not evolved as it has here.

What I found irritating was the use of 'couple' without an 'of' after it eg a couple cars, a couple doughnuts in a series of books I read.

Oldwoman
And I am wondering if your brother's yard where he tripped in his thongs is a one acre landscaped plot (still 'a backyard' though).

I think 'grits' is a kind of coarse cornmeal. Wouldn't know how to prepare it though.

Oldwoman70 ?

Oh, isn’t language just wonderful! ??

pp over easy is when the cooked egg is flipped over and cooked for a few seconds but still leaving the yolk runny.

There are differences in all languages. My brother lives in Australia and his daughter sent me a message via Facebook to say that he had tripped in the yard because he was wearing thongs, apparently thongs are what Australians call flip-flops. I had to explain what thongs are in UK and that I now have a mental image of my brother which will need years of counselling to get rid of.

I was very confused by the term 'rest room'. Expecting to find a place where I might be able to put my aching feet up, I was surprised to find a ladies lavatory. What a talent for euphemisms! Underwear coyly referred to as 'intimate garments'.

I've heard of Americans eating "grits" for breakfast. What are they and is there a British equivalent, does anyone know?

I think the reason I (at any rate) asked about the American school system is that we see so many American films as well as reading American books where it is expected that you understand what these terms mean. Eg when I was in 8th grade, she was a sophomore, he was in little league etc etc. None of these terms are explained! Doesn't happen so much with other countries.

We were confused in the USA when we were asked if we wanted complimentary 'pop overs'. We had no idea what they were but were intrigued so agreed. Turned out to be small yorkshire puddings!

What on earth is over easy? I know what sunny side up is.

Ha ha Granny knot, love it!

Many years ago on our first visit to America we were in a diner for breakfast when the waiter asked how we wanted our eggs - DH replied "fried". I had to explain the various ways Americans can order - sunny side up, over easy etc. I do like the way they keep topping up your coffee though!

I don't know why the US always gets picked on - school systems are different the world over. In South Africa, you start school in Class 1 [and SA children start school in "Class 0" at age 6, so I think that 4 is very young for my grandson to be starting school], then in high school the years are called Standards, as in Standard 6, 7, 8 - and eventually you Matriculate or "pass Matric" (Standard 10).

I read something the other day that made me chuckle:

American man to punter in pub in Bath:
So do you say Baaath or B-ath? (short "A").
Punter: We say both.
American man shouts to wife: Honey, they pronounce it Both.

Finnochio how can back to front dates make sense, of course they use what they like and I ve no right or desire to change them, but the logical law is either small to big or big to small not middle, small, big makes no sense to anyone
Day month year is logical
month day year is illogical
And how do you measure butter in a cup ?

I have 2 sets of American cups, but once I’ve used 1 cup for butter and one for honey(?) I’ve got to wash up and how do I measure cups of sliced cucumber?
So, I have to convert the recipe first.
Into ounces because I still can’t work out grams.

I don't think stones are used in any other country but the UK. I'm in Australia and we've used the simple metric system for everything for many decades.

MiniMoon but why, WHY are the American crochet terms one 'step' behind ours? Or conversely, why are the British terms one step in front of theirs? So that, e.g. a UK double crochet is a US single crochet (we don't have single crochet), a UK half treble crochet is a US double crochet and so on... I usually manage OK, sometimes by having a conversion chart handy, but it's particularly tricky if I find a pattern online which doesn't bother stating whether it's using US or UK terms

PS: contrarymary, you can usually find a simple conversion chart - I have one on my kitchen wall.
I do however, find the use of brand names very off-putting. My son did a stint in an American company and bought me a charity cookbook as a gift. There was one recipe I wanted to try, with a brand name product in it, and I emailed an old family friend in the US for information - she had never heard of it!
My favourite American measurement is oven size, in pies (which I am told comes from homesteading days). I would love to buy a "20 pie" oven!!!

I understand that many American recipes evolved in Pioneer days, and the measuring was simplified.
I have a set of American ups for American recipes.
Measurements are simple when you think that they are Imperial.
What amuses (or annoys) me is that 60 years ago I made the decision to do everything in metric - that is what our science teachers were using, and it was coming in in other things. Now, when DH does woodwork, and I do dressmaking, we both find that the majority of information on the internet, and good quality supplies are American - and in Imperial measurements! Fortunately, I am now 'fluent' in both methods! Same for babies' weights, and ages (have to say that I find 21 months easier than one and three-quarters though!)

I made an American pudding recipe for myself a couple of nights ago. It's a bit like blancmange when it's cool. The recipe called for 1 tablespoon of butter. I had to ask Mr Google how much that was in ounces. I'm very old school when it comes to cooking, I've never taken to grams and kilogrammes. The pudding was very good when I ate it.

Part of my job as a writer and editor of cookbooks which sold in both the USA and the UK was Americanisation – cup measures, eggplant, zucchini, arugula, skillet, bring to a boil, °F for oven temperatures, serial commas, etc. At one point I was handling so many American books that I even wrote my shopping list in "American".

American recipes, how do I measure a cup of butter ?
Or a stick of butter?
Plus I have to google what some of the items are, then I find out that it’s a processed mix that I can’t buy over here.

many others too cooktop,worktop,cupboards,lounge,garden......

sorry for bad spelling

hmm lets see.some of us say twenty-five hundred some say two thousand five hundred,1st one is faster
being so large our states are almost like countrys in that each region has its own ideas.also the west side of the country was settled much later than the east(by europeans)
for example school in the northeast starts in the bigging of september and ends in the middle of june.in the southeast.they will be starting 2-3 week of august and finish for the year 2-3 week in may.

depending on when the schools were built even schools can be different
first is preschool can be from 3-5 yrs can be a babysitter or actual infants school.its up to the parents.they learn either way
grades school or grammer school or elementary school
kindergarten-4.5-5.5 yrs old
1st grade-6-7+ or - ages here can fluctuate up to a year
2nd 7-8
3rd8-9
4rd 9-10
5th 10-11
6th 11-12
this is where it gets tricky
the school (elementary) i went to continued to

7th 12-13
8th 13-14
then to high school
9th freshman 14-15
10th sophmore15-16
11th junior16-17
12 senior17-18
then off to college/university

more common now with" new" built schools since the late 60s
elemntary school ends at 6th grade and
middle school starts
7th
8th
9th
then off to high school 10th
11th
12th
how people designate thier childrens age is totally arbritrary,actually have never heard any go past 23 months and then to the terrible twos!
grannies are called everthing under the sun including granny,mimi,nana.nonna,yahyah,lola,abuela, these are just the ones in my multinational family.
usa is called a melting pot for a reason.so many immigrants,settlers,convicts ,slave came from all over the world that these terms are ingrained and varied.grandma is also acceptable
and just out of curiousity why would we be like the uk?
our original population was american indians followed by viking,spanish,dutch,english irish.and thats the just the first century or so.
my maternal family has been here since the 1600s,my dads has always been here..
differences should be celebrated
hope this helps
ran into the same problem reading contemperary fiction and watch shows, from uk,ireland and europe.australia not so much lived there for a long time.