Wherein we ask each other dialect questions we don't quite understand

[Umbran]

I've heard of scones, and I'm sure I've seen one sometime in my life, but I can't remember or imagine right now what they look like.

I have never been to England to have a scone. However, I've made scones at home pretty frequently. They actually are very similar to biscuits.

 

[Janx]

Yup. Though I don't know how most of Europe says it, as they have their own languages. You're really talking about the UK and English there.

One thing worth noting is that if you say "European", people in the UK don't imagine you're referring to them. That implies the continental mainland to us - which is very much a "somewhere else". While you're right in that the UK is technically part of the same continent, when I say "American" I don't mean Canadians, either.

ah yes, good point. Though I've heard europeans (not from those islandy bits like you) in english, use the same phrasing. So however they talk, seems to translate to "I am going to University next fall"

Here's a different one from Indians, that may be influenced by the british, so maybe you'll know why:

if you work on a project with Indians, eventually one of them will say something like "I have a few doubts"

Which really means in American English "I have a few questions"

For some reason, they use the word "doubt" when to us, they should be saying "question". "Doubt" to an american signifies a lack of confidence, rather than a query in need of an answer. I suspect it lies in the multi-meaning usage of the word "doubt" and "question" in some context (surely, if you had questions about how to do something, you lacked confidence in the doing of that thing). Of if your slacker buddy promises to wake up early and get that task done for you, you might say "I doubt it" or just as easily say "I question the likelyhood of that happening"

So anyways, is that just an Indian quirk of translation or is it part of British speech as well?

 

[Morrus]

ah yes, good point. Though I've heard europeans (not from those islandy bits like you) in english, use the same phrasing. So however they talk, seems to translate to "I am going to University next fall"

Here's a different one from Indians, that may be influenced by the brittish, so maybe you'll know why:

if you work on a project with Indians, eventually one of them will say something like "I have a few doubts"

Which really means in American English "I have a few questions"

For some reason, they use the word "doubt" when to us, they should be saying "question". "Doubt" to an american signifies a lack of confidence, rather than a query in need of an answer. I suspect it lies in the multi-meaning usage of the word "doubt" and "question" in some context (surely, if you had questions about how to do something, you lacked confidence in the doing of that thing). Of if your slacker buddy promises to wake up early and get that task done for you, you might say "I doubt it" or just as easily say "I question the likelyhood of that happening"

So anyways, is that just an Indian quirk of translation or is it part of Brittish speech as well?

Erm. Dunno. I can imagine both being used, but for the life of me now can't remember which I use.

 

[billd91]

I've heard of scones, and I'm sure I've seen one sometime in my life, but I can't remember or imagine right now what they look like.

Bullgrit

Here's what a google search gives me on scone images: Scones

They're pretty common in the grocery store bakeries around Wisconsin, usually a bit sweeter than American biscuit, often with some kind of fruit like cranberries. A friend of mine makes a wicked heath bar and whipped cream scone.

 

[Janx]

I have never been to England to have a scone. However, I've made scones at home pretty frequently. They actually are very similar to biscuits.

they are triangle shaped when you buy them at Starbucks or other places in the US (that may or may not be the Official British Form Factor for Scones)

biscuits are roundish moundish things.

 

[Bullgrit]

Coincidentally, my mother is coming home today from a trip ("vacation" in American English, "holiday" in British English?) to the UK. I know she explored some of England and Scotland -- she sent me a pic of Stonehenge. I can't wait to hear what she saw and learned.

She has also been (in previous years) to Italy and South Korea -- and thinking of this brings up another question, for our Asian folks around here: "South Korean" or "Korean"?

Bullgrit

 

[Bullgrit]

Here's what a google search gives me on scone images: Scones

Yeah, I went and looked them up on Google, too. But I was trying to stay in the spirit of the OP: "...probably could look up but never did, and feel like getting a quick explanation from your friends at EN World."

Bullgrit

 

[Umbran]

Wow. So every single word meant something different! It was an entirely different sentence in each dialect!

In a culinary sense, the gravy is really just a gravy - some meat-related drippings or liquid, thickened. Even in England, it isn't like the only gravy is beef gravy, is it? You have gravies associated with other meats, right? I mean, here, we have beef gravy, turkey gravy, chicken gravy, et al.

Replace the broth with coffee, and you get a red-eye gravy. Use sausage-drippings and cream, you get a sausage gravy.

 

[Bullgrit]

Replace the broth with coffee, and you get a red-eye gravy.

Wait, what? Coffee is in red eye gravy? I like red eye, I hate coffee -- and I never tasted anything coffee-ish about red eye gravy. Now I need to look this up.

Bullgrit

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

From the Wiki:

Red-eye gravy is a thin sauce often seen in the cuisine of the Southern United States and associated with the country ham of that region. Other names for this sauce include poor man's gravy, bird-eye gravy, bottom sop and red ham gravy. The gravy is made from the drippings of pan-fried (or sometimes baked) sausage, country ham, bacon, or other pork, sometimes mixed with black coffee. The same drippings, when mixed with flour, make the flavoring for Sawmill gravy. Red-eye gravy is often served over ham, cornbread, fried potatoes, grits, or North American bread biscuits.

Never had it myself, at least, not knowingly.