European Words of the Day

What Americans call "French fries" are simply "fries" in France. However, "fish and chips" in the UK don't quite mean "fish and fries". I learned that "chips" are the wider cut friend potatoe wedges, while "fries" mean the slender ones . I suppose this is the same as how "Thai iced tea" means "ice tea" in Thailand. If you haven't had the pleasure of it yet, Thai iced tea is iced tea with condensed milk, I believe, which is not the healthiest drink around. My colleague from the UK shared a story that he learned about "English muffins" at his last business trip in California. He exclaimed to an American lady in line at the hotel breakfast buffet, "I've been English all my life, but never knew about English muffins." It must be an American who made up the silly name, of course.

I thought "cheers" in (British) English meant "goodbye" or "take care", but it actually means "thanks". I had no idea that I didn't know "English". I should have bought a proper English dictionary for my trip. I'm sure I'll have a harder time when I hit London for Easter weekend. I was in the Netherlands today for less than 24 hours, so I was not lucky enough to enjoy that part of the world. At this very moment, I'm in Lyon, France, for about 24 hours as well, before I head to London. Jetlag has kept me messed up still. I'll blog more later about other tidbits I've picked up in Europe.