Oh, you crazy Brits.... I need help understanding our language difference.

[Peelee]

OK, so I realize that there's a good bit of terminology that's different (elevators and lifts, trucks and lorries, apartments and flats), but it's usually a straight translation. However, I'm always a bit flummoxed by biscuits. My understanding is that they are more cookie-like than American biscuits, but the context clues I try to take are always confounding any attempt to lock it down to a specific food. Are they like generic American cookies? Are they some form of British cookie that I cannot experience without going to a Sir Fancy-Pants World Food Store? Is it punishable by law to have a British author write a book or story that doesn't include the eating of biscuits in a unique setting or time?

What's the deal with biscuits?[/seinfeld]

[Archonic Energy]

Jammie dodgers
digestives
Pink wafers
nice biscuits
rich tea
ginger nuts
custard creams
Hob Nobs
... We have so much to teach you.

Right in now, in the loosest definition cookies are biscuits. but they aren't really biscuits are hard not like cookies. legend has it that in some language it means twice cooked but i honestly can't see that being the only feature... this is hard, try describing red to someone who is colour blind, it looses something in translation.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Biscuit is as diverse a category as cake is (not to mention the abominations that can't decide if they're cakes or biscuits). American cookies are a type of biscuit from a British perspective.

British biscuits tend not to be as big as American cookies and British cookies tend to be big as biscuits go.

Shortbread is sometimes a biscuit, shortbread biscuits (aka English Shortbread) is rarer than the more aggressively marketed Scottish Shortbread (which doesn't get called a biscuit but basically is, according to my recipe book shortbread biscuits are cooked for half the time at a higher temperature but don't expect that to be a rule) but lots of biscuits have what is basically a form of shortbread in them (jammy dodgers and custard creams for example).

[Peelee]

Whoah, hold on a second.

You guys have cookies too?!?

[Prime32]

Whoah, hold on a second.

You guys have cookies too?!?

"Cookies" generally refers to "those round things with chocolate chips that come from America".
EDIT: This might help.

Why do Americans use the term "dog biscuit" rather than "dog cookie", anyway?

[BannedInSchool]

Right in now, in the loosest definition cookies are biscuits. but they aren't really biscuits are hard not like cookies.

American "cookies" can also be hard. I don't know what type of cookie to call them, but the "Chessmen(R)" cookies are crunchy, just for example. Not "Ow, my tooth!" hard, but far from squishy.

[golentan]

"Cookies" generally refers to "those round things with chocolate chips that come from America".
EDIT: This might help.

Why do Americans use the term "dog biscuit" rather than "dog cookie", anyway?

Biscuit originally comes from a couple of roots that, taken together, mean "Twice Baked."

Dog biscuits meet the original definition, even though my favorite bread product of all time (drop biscuits) are only baked once.

[Peelee]

"Cookies" generally refers to "those round things with chocolate chips that come from America".
EDIT: This might help.

Why do Americans use the term "dog biscuit" rather than "dog cookie", anyway?

That does help a lot. So "biscuit" is more like a very generalized term for a large variety of cookies and crackers, and of course there are hundreds of different kinds. I do love some of the names, like "jammie dodgers;" that just sounds fun.

And in retaliation for the dog biscuits, why do Brits use the term "flat" instead of "vertical" when referring to apartments, since most of them are more than one story (at least in urban areas)?

[golentan]

That does help a lot. So "biscuit" is more like a very generalized term for a large variety of cookies and crackers, and of course there are hundreds of different kinds. I do love some of the names, like "jammie dodgers;" that just sounds fun.

And in retaliation for the dog biscuits, why do Brits use the term "flat" instead of "vertical" when referring to apartments, since most of them are more than one story (at least in urban areas)?

Because most flats, as I understand it, occupy a single story within a building, whereas a house is more often two stories/have a basement/are otherwise vertically integrated. Flat actually used to be an alternate word for story/floor/etc, but it got associated with apartment buildings instead.

[Peelee]

Because most flats, as I understand it, occupy a single story within a building, whereas a house is more often two stories/have a basement/are otherwise vertically integrated. Flat actually used to be an alternate word for story/floor/etc, but it got associated with apartment buildings instead.

That... makes perfect sense, actually. Thanks!

[BannedInSchool]

Why do Americans use the term "dog biscuit" rather than "dog cookie", anyway?

In general our cookies are sweet and our biscuits are savory. I'd say since dog biscuits aren't sweet they fall into being a "hard biscuit". I don't have any problem calling hard tack biscuits "biscuits". If dog biscuits were thinner I think we'd call them "crackers". Now our crackers are usually savory, but can be sweetened like graham crackers, which are similar to British digestive biscuits. Hmm, do we otherwise agree on what crackers are?

[golentan]

In general our cookies are sweet and our biscuits are savory. I'd say since dog biscuits aren't sweet they fall into being a "hard biscuit". I don't have any problem calling hard tack biscuits "biscuits". If dog biscuits were thinner I think we'd call them "crackers". Now our crackers are usually savory, but can be sweetened like graham crackers, which are similar to British digestive biscuits. Hmm, do we otherwise agree on what crackers are?

The board rules prohibit me from answering that question.

I'd say a cracker is a thin, crispy bread product.

[Closet_Skeleton]

That does help a lot. So "biscuit" is more like a very generalized term for a large variety of cookies and crackers, and of course there are hundreds of different kinds.

Crackers aren't usually called biscuits. They're called crackers.

Hmm, do we otherwise agree on what crackers are?

Sort of. You don't tend to get Graham's crackers in the UK. UK Crackers are savory thin hardish wafers eaten with butter and usually cheese.

Jacob's Cream Crackers is the normal brand.

Flat actually used to be an alternate word for story/floor/etc, but it got associated with apartment buildings instead.

'block of flats' is a building. No-one calls a whole building 'a flat', but it might be called 'flats' as a short-hand for 'block of flats'.

[BannedInSchool]

No, not at all. You don't tend to get Graham's crackers in the UK. UK Crackers are savory thin hardish wafers eaten with butter and usually cheese.

Jacob's Cream Crackers is the normal brand.

Graham crackers are an outlier of the cracker family. I'd say those cream crackers look similar to our Saltine, but the saltine is thinner and more flaky and brittle. Good with cheese. Nom nom nom. The other big popular American cracker is the Ritz, which from that is apparently available in Britland, but in different variations and only "Original" in common. Mmm, sliced Italian dry, hard salami goes well with Ritz, but I could eat a box just plain.

[comicshorse]

Sort of. You don't tend to get Graham's crackers in the UK. UK Crackers are savory thin hardish wafers eaten with butter and usually cheese.

Yes but in my parents house these were always referred to as 'cheese biscuits' not crackers

[Prime32]

Yes but in my parents house these were always referred to as 'cheese biscuits' not crackers

Your parents are weird.

[BannedInSchool]

American "cookies" can also be hard. I don't know what type of cookie to call them, but the "Chessmen(R)" cookies are crunchy, just for example. Not "Ow, my tooth!" hard, but far from squishy.

Oh, someone else has said those cookies may be close to Scotch shortbread.

ETA: And that's pretty amusing if one item we have identically in common is "shortbread" as a cookie/biscuit.

[Wardog]

Crackers aren't usually called biscuits. They're called crackers.

Crackers are frequently called biscuits. Google image search: cheese and biscuits. All crackers (apart from one pic where some weirdo has put Jammy Dodgers and Bourbons and cheese in the same bowl).

"Water biscuits" are definitely crackers.

[golentan]

Graham crackers are an outlier of the cracker family. I'd say those cream crackers look similar to our Saltine, but the saltine is thinner and more flaky and brittle. Good with cheese. Nom nom nom. The other big popular American cracker is the Ritz, which from that is apparently available in Britland, but in different variations and only "Original" in common. Mmm, sliced Italian dry, hard salami goes well with Ritz, but I could eat a box just plain.

I'd say cream crackers look to me more like Social crackers (club Social, or Sociables, or all the others), which is what my family going back to at least the 50s has put out for gatherings, parties, etc. with a bit of schmear...

Love social crackers.

[Archonic Energy]

the hovis loaf biscuit a staple of cheese boards everywhere!

[Closet_Skeleton]

ETA: And that's pretty amusing if one item we have identically in common is "shortbread" as a cookie/biscuit.

"shortening" means "add fat" in cooking terms.

Shortbread is just fat, flour and sugar.

Technically all biscuits/cookies/crackers are a just a specific weird subtype of unleavened bread.

[golentan]

"shortening" means "add fat" in cooking terms.

Shortbread is just fat, flour and sugar.

Technically all biscuits/cookies/crackers are a just a specific weird subtype of unleavened bread.

Leavened biscuits are a thing in the states.

[comicshorse]

Your parents are weird.

No arguments here

[Heliomance]

I thought what the Americans called "biscuits" was most similar to some sort of plain unsweetened scone.

My main evidence for this is a picture I saw of "biscuits and gravy" which appeared to be scones liberally coated in baby vomit.

[BannedInSchool]

Shortbread is just fat, flour and sugar.

Sounds like a cookie to me.

Technically all biscuits/cookies/crackers are a just a specific weird subtype of unleavened bread.

It's not adding yeast and cookie dough isn't bready enough to end up as bread, but many cookie recipes do add baking soda which is leavening.

Crossing over to another thread, if the rest of the world doesn't have peanut butter cookies I feel sad for you. Oh, when the edge is dry and crumbly, but the middle is still soft. Mmmmmmm. It's just not right if you don't end up with bunches of crumbs.

[golentan]

I thought what the Americans called "biscuits" was most similar to some sort of plain unsweetened scone.

My main evidence for this is a picture I saw of "biscuits and gravy" which appeared to be scones liberally coated in baby vomit.

That's probably buttermilk biscuits, which are leavened and savory and I would compare to a dense french bread in texture and flavor more than scones, which are completely different, and are commonly served with sausage gravy (which isn't the best, being made from drippings from bacon or sausage and combined with milk, flour, and pepper I find it overly salty and insufficiently gravy, and it does look kinda like baby vomit).

Britain and the US. Two nations divided by a common tongue.

[Kittenwolf]

Ahh regional dialects, they can lead to such amusing things at times :)

Of course, all this talk of biscuits vs cookies is now making me think of chips ;)

[golentan]

Ahh regional dialects, they can lead to such amusing things at times :)

Of course, all this talk of biscuits vs cookies is now making me think of chips ;)

Now, do you mean "crisps" or are you referring to potato wedges?

[TheThan]

so what do British people call soft drinks?

cokes? colas? soda? pop? soda pop?

[Kittenwolf]

Now, do you mean "crisps" or are you referring to potato wedges?

Yes :D
Crisps, wedges, fries. They're all the same name in Australia

so what do British people call soft drinks?

cokes? colas? soda? pop? soda pop?

Unsure about Britain, but in Australia they're all just "Softdrink". Coke & Cola are specific brands/flavours and 'pop' is something that a bubble does :)