Differences between food names in American and British English. Part 2.
Buyer: I’d like a courgette.
Seller: A what?
Buyer: A long green vegetable, thicker than a cucumber.
Seller: Oh, you mean a zucchini!
It may be comical, but this situation is not unusual in the English-speaking world. Types of food could have a different name, depending on the country, or even continent. One of examples are zucchini and courgette
Neither in United States of America nor in the United Kingdom did they come up with their own word and took the ready-made one. The Americans “turned for help” to the Italians, who were actively moving to the States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and adapted the word – Zucchini. The British, on the other hand, followed their favourite path and borrowed the French word – Courgette.
There could also be some differences in size and colour, for example, a courgette is considered to be smaller and could be around 12-15 cm, while a zucchini could grow up to 20 cm. However, it is often not mentioned that, in fact, if a courgette was given some time to grow and not cut off at the 14 cm stage, then it would grow up to 20 cm (or bigger) to become a zucchini.
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