Because, as appropriate to the rest of this conversation, they're Belgian.

Reading this makes me scarder to talk!

I can’t remember it all! Why so many words for the same thing!!!!?????
How can Americans abs English people understand each other?
We borrow words too but this is too many and what if you mix them?

'French' came from them being 'french' cut.  As in thin and regular (literally batonnet or julienne).  From what I gather british chips are thick and irregular, much like what we USAins would call 'home fries', so no, they aren't the same things.  It's also why most restaurants that serve home fries, call them home fries and not 'french' fries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..._culinary_knife_cuts


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!  And there's the burn.

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 44):

I’ll keep French fries lol

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 44):

And who said RPoL wasn’t educational!

In reply to Mika (msg # 43):

For what it's worth, most of us don't remember them all, either.  It usually comes down to what's in common use in the area where you live, or lived the longest.  Most people can figure out what you mean, by the context, and it's typically only the really snooty types who get upset if you use a different term than what they're used to...like, my best friend in high school moved to Utah from California.  A lot of the kids I went to school with were jerks, so they gave him a hard time because he asked for soda, instead of pop...but they knew what he meant.

In reply to facemaker329 (msg # 47):

It’s so difficult. I think I heard someone call a pizza a pie and I was confused because pies are sweet in nature. I’m so happy you say English is hard it’s hard to remember every word and meaning!

Pizza is not a pie, it's more like an open sandwich, with a topping on bread.  Pies are not necessarily sweet... while some can be, there are also pies that are savoury, containing meat, potato, cheese, and other fillings.

In reply to Mika (msg # 48):

Taken from another site: Pizza was first called pie when Italian immigrants arrived in the United States in the late 1800s. Pizza had similarities to a pie – with a crust, sliced triangle portions and its circular shape. Italian-Americans sold and popularized the pizzas, and the exotic dish picked up the English name “tomato pie”. Sometime thereafter the languages met in the middle to give us the term “pizza pie”.  It might be common phrase to you, or you may only have just seen it used… But I bet you can recall the use of pizza pie by Dean Martin in his 1953 hit “Amore” – “When a moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore”.

In the UK we call pizza, pizza. We call pie, pie. Nice and easy, right? But we have sweet pies, savoury pies and pasties, not to be confused with pastries. Traditionally a Pasty is meat and vegetables wrapped in pastry with a crimped edge, and they originate from Cornwall in the SW of England. A variant would have a savoury filling at one end and then a sweet filling (like apple or blackberry) at the other, all in the one pasty. That way you get your main course and pudding all in one! They were eaten by miners who couldn’t clean their hands, so the crimped edge was the handle. Nowadays you get a variety of savoury fillings, including meat and vegetarian options.

If you ever come to England you have to try a pasty, they are gert lush as the locals would say!

In reply to Mika (msg # 48):

I second English being hard even as a native speaker. I understand the whole being afraid to talk (I didn’t speak much Turkish in Turkey even though that was the point of going there because I was terrified), but I hope you don’t let this person colour your perception of everyone. I swear a good deal of us are nice!

With some sets of words it all comes down to nuance, and at least where I am people tend to understand that a second language speaker may not have that down pat. If you’re ever confused feel free to ask, most people are happy to at least try to explain what they can! (Mind you, I do live in a major city, so I may be biased on that front).

My hometown has one actual super market.

Brooklyn Superhero Supply.   Costumes, equipment, everything for the superhero.


https://www.superherosupplies.com/

In reply to Eur512 (msg # 52):

That’s crazy!!!!! How is that a supermarket!?!?

They market stuff for supers.

In reply to Mika (msg # 53):
look up some pictures of it.
it is a super market.  A market where superheroes buy super things.
This message was last edited by the user at 21:50, Sun 29 Nov 2020.

In reply to Eur512 (msg # 55):

I don’t want to run into Homelander!

In reply to Mika (msg # 56):

Ok, now its time for the real story of supermarkets.

They are not *exactly* big grocery stores.

When I was young, we did not have supermarkets in my neighborhood.  Most people were immigrants or children of immigrants, and we did things Old Country style- shopping meant a trip to bakery, butcher, Mario's fruit and vegetable store, and grocery store.

Milk came by delivery.  Cookies came from my grandfather's truck.

The Grocery store was the "other things" store.  Canned goods, sauces, sugar, coffee, all the goods that the specialty stores- butcher, baker, etc- did not carry.

A supermarket has a butcher department, a dairy department, a produce department, etc.  A grocery store does not, it just has shelves.  TODAY a grocery store may have these things, thanks to refrigeration and packaging, but still, it will have no butcher shop or bakery on the premises.  That's a supermarket.

Mika,
I also live in Japan. In the US (regardless of the origins of the words), I think we use supermarket and grocery store rather interchangeably depending primarily on where you live. On the west coast, we primarily say "grocery store." Costco and Sam's Club are "big box stores," and we just say "Wal Mart" or "Target" for those stores, instead of "Department Store." We usually use department store for mall anchor stores like Macy's, Sears, etc. In other words, although I agree with Eur512's description, I don't think anyone consciously separates "grocery store" and "supermarket" in normal discussion; they just use whatever is used in their area. Being from California, I never use the term "supermarket" in normal discussion.

"Suupaa" in Japanese would basically be a grocery store. "Kombini" would be a convenience store--or we might generically say "7-11."
This message was last edited by the user at 23:36, Sun 29 Nov 2020.

In reply to Heath (msg # 58):

I’m a Hokkaido baby!

That’s why I was confused it’s all スーパー　to me or コンビニ but we do make a difference like  seven, famimart and so on.

Why do you have so many words???

Not a huge selection.  I am a little disappointed by their costuming stock.

In reply to Mika (msg # 59):

I think the issue is that English, like some other languages, is an organic language. By this I mean that nobody sat down and created it all in one go, it has evolved over centuries into the language we use today. As it has evolved in different places then regional variance has affected how we use certain words and phrases. Now we live in a far more cosmopolitan world and it is now common for people to meet other speakers of their same language from different parts of the world and so encounter greater variance in how the language has developed.

You could compare it to cooking, which can see great regional variation based on a few common ingredients.

In reply to Jarodemo (msg # 61):

That just makes my English tests Even harder!!!

Speaking as one who has hopped across the pond for good, the USA 'shopping center' that spells it with 'centre' has upcharged all of their goods by several dollars.  Ditto, 'shop' will be far cheaper than 'shoppe'.  Last place to eat a sandwich is anywhere with the words 'fusion bistro' in the description. Crisps are chips in the USA.  Chips are Fries - and if they are cut as per American 'steak fries', you almost have proper chips.   Home fries are sliced or shredded potato with onion bits fried on a greasy surface in the more American style diners. You cannot get good Fries in the USA for the most part.  Very few Americans know about vinegar.  You couldn't get decent tea in the USA for many years.  I had to beg for care packages to be sent.  BUT - they do have Oreos here, and decent beer, you just have to let it warm up a bit.  And there is no half-day closing on High Street nor bank holidays every two days.  There is also much less holiday time (aka 'vacation') for workers and your worker's rights will be different from State to State.

In reply to Silverlock (msg # 63):

Where in the USA are you?  I know secret places where expatriates go to find the things "you cannot find in the United States".  NYC is great for that.

Myers of Keswick, for example, has been keeping British expats alive for about half a century.

http://www.myersofkeswick.com/

And for tea see Harney and sons, or Ten Ren.
This message was last edited by the user at 23:12, Mon 30 Nov 2020.

In reply to Silverlock (msg # 63):

I hear you. In Japan, foreign goods are generally upcharged by 30%-50%--or more. I have found some items double to triple the cost in the US.

In reply to Heath (msg # 65):

It’s so expensive so I miss many foreign foods! I flew to Okinawa and bought so much A1 steak sauce since it was cheaper