I know I am English but a couple of "Word" peculiarities have got me worried that I may drop a Cobbler if I say the wrong thing.

You are bicyclists. In the UK we are cyclists. Mainly because in the UK the term Bikers is reserved for Motorbikes so if you talk about Going out on the Bike you are invariably asked if it is a Harley or a Yamaha. Amongst my age group it used to be BSA-Norton or a japanese thing. A bicyclist does not exist as it is a term that went out of fashion about 40 years ago, When motorbikes became affordable.

Then there is the term PIE and this is not a problem for me. A pie in England is made of meat. Basically a pie has to have a pastry crust, and although apple pies do exist- a Fruit pie is normally called a Tart. I don't care about that but what is this thing about Blueberries. We don't have them in the UK so can pass no comment on them, but are they that Good?

We may not have pies as you have in the US but we get by on our cakes, tarts, gateaux's and buns. Then if you really want to get me going then it has to be Scones with Clotted cream and strawberry Jam, or a full english breakfast. Mind you on the 15th (Ride for Pie) I have it arranged that I will be going to an "OLDE ENGLISH RESTAURANT" that does serve an Exceptionally good apple and blackberry tart with whipped Sussex cream. In Fact Dreaming about it,I might go there tomorrow.

"Two countries divided by a common language."

I'm not so sure the first part about 'bikers' and 'bikes' is that much different. I frequently have to tell an individual that I'm a cyclist after using the term 'Bike' since they ask the same question as in the UK, "Oh, You have a Harley?".
But the word 'pie' does have a somewhat different reference. When I visited the UK on business from 98 to 01 I noticed there were several terms that had slightly different meanings. But none ever caused me embarrassment, especially because the folks there just laughed off my use of words with the common phrase 'Oh you Yanks!'

Here if you said " I had a tart for lunch" Your wife would club you with a baseball bat and super glue your penis to your leg.

Here we call ourselves "cyclists" but some of the motoring public has more colorful names for us.

Here most meat pies come frozen then are microwaved and served with a beer like Milwalkee's best , Black Label or just cold horse piss.

Sometimes its a matter of connotation. "Clotted" cream sounds unpleasant to an American ear because "clotted" is most associated with blood and scabs-- somewhat less frequently with phlegm. "Buns" for us are often bread-like things possessing no sweetness but rather mustard and ketchup. A tart for us is often a smallish, sometimes folded over, sourish tasting fruit in crust.... definitely found more often in nursery rhymes than at the bakery.

Blueberries. Small, not sour but ony subtly sweet, having a definite but far less than overpowering flavor yet lovely to eat. Much prized for their delicate taste and high level of anti-oxidants. Bluish black in color.

As far as I'm aware, only non-riders call us "bicyclists".....everybody I know is proud to be a "cyclist"-- a word suggesting to us a serious, devoted follower of the pedaled wheel. "Bikers" are tattooed, anti-social ruffians with hard-looking babes perched on the rear fender of their American-made motorcycles.

Stapfam.......there may be little regional identity left in the U.S.A....so now we can look across the water to find an almost common culture with just enough interesting "differences". Cheerio.

Blueberries?

Blueberries are an expensive & unusual berry. Expensive meaning that 4 ounces (even in season) can cost $2.99 in the fresh fruit section of the grocery store if you don't shop carefully. Most of us won't pay that much for them. But when the season is over, the prices are HIGH. Blueberries have to have the right soil, good drainage is critical, temps during the growing/fruiting season have to be just right, and are vulnerable to various soil fungi.

A friend had a peach and apple orchard and large blueberry truck garden in north Texas 20 years ago. One spring night just as the blueberries were beginning to fruit, a freeze was predicted. We spent 6 chilly dark hours in that blueberry patch stacking tires & setting them on fire in attempt to create a warm zone so the blueberries were not nipped by the frost - my friend could not afford to lose his blueberry crop because it represented the highest profit for any fruit he raised. The smoky burning tires didn't do much good: half the crop was lost anyway & we smelled of burning rubber for days. After trying to prove he could grow apples and blueberries in Texas for a decade, he moved to Taos & is now a gallery owner and expert in early American textiles & southwestern paintings. Fewer vagaries of weather impacting profits.

So, blueberries? yes, they are a delicacy and expensive. I don't know where they're grown elsewhere in the world (Mexico? Central America?) but a homemade fresh blueberry pie is a real treat...topped with BlueBell Homemade Vanilla ice cream from the contented cows in Brenham...

When it's chilly out, do you wear Sweaters or Jumpers?

Knits or Pulls?

Time for tea, a side of Biscuits or Cookies?

Me first! Do I get in Lines or Queues?

Look at those legs! Are they Girls or Birds?

Do you smoke Cigs or ****?

Paper or Plastic???- no, wait!

English is so malleable. You have to love it!

Like WEEDS in Alaska... Miles and miles and miles of wild buleberries...
I like 'em best straight up or in muffins or cobbler or pancakes.... mmmmmmmmm....

I'm enjoying a warm blueberry muffin right now.

What's UK for muffin?

Steak and kidney pie? You bet your knickers! Motorway, tramway, lift, knickers, steersman, lorry and yes: Kippers!
Brenham, TX and BlueBell Ice Cream? Been there, done that at the Southwest Tandem Rally, sometime back in the 90s.
Hey it's all good!

Blueberries

Right now, they are selling for $5.99 for a 2 pound box at the local supermarket.

Available frozen, too. Not bad: throw into blender with protein powder and/or Endurox after a ride. And you get a purple moustache to entertain the grandchildren with.

After retiring from my real career, I took a job as a historic interpreter at a living history museum. One of my adventures there was making maple syrup, from actually tapping the trees to boiling down the sap in an evaporator. My workmate was a guy (chap) from England. He always sent some of our samples back to England because none of his friends and family (mates) had tasted the real thing.

I still remember him calling a garden hose a "hose pipe". I really had great fun working with him.

I cringe when I hear "biker" when referring to a cyclist, also. Note, I said cyclist which is more commonly heard in my area than bicyclist.

As to pie, get with it. There's blueberry, pecan, pumpkin, strawberry, cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, lemon, chocolate, key lime (or is that "quay" lime in the UK?), butterscotch, coconut creme and so on. Did I leave anybody's favorite out?

Dennis

Pizza?

Stapfam,

My sister is a certified chef. She worked at a British Country Club for about six months last year out near Worchester. On Sundays, the members swarmed the desert table seeking out her genuine "American Apple Pies." They loved the buttery and cinnamon flaky crust and the fresh crisp apples inside. She had enough fresh blackberries a few times to do a cobbler and almost caused a riot.

They were sorry when her "chef exchange" was over.

Tyson
Cushing, Oklahoma

Honestly, no blueberries?
If you live in a country that doesn't grow or import blueberries then it's time to move to one that does.

I made several business trips to Long Island New York a while back and learned to love the pies up there. What they call a "pie" is what we call "pizza". Only theirs are MUCH better. It would take months after a trip to NY before I would get a pizza at home in Georgia.
On the other hand, they would talk about having a "barbecue" when they meant they were cooking hamburgers and hot dogs on a charcoal or gas grill. Around here a barbecue is slow-cooking pork over hot coals on a pit. It is a big deal requiring 14 to 24 hours of cooking and usually involves cigars, alcohol, lies and live music.

Best blueberries I ever had was last summer when the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia stopped in Jesup, a small rural town in south Georgia. A local Little League baseball team was selling baggies full of fresh blueberries, ice cold from a cooler they wheeled around. They were so big they almost looked like small grapes and they were absolutely delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.

Even better than Blueberry pie (and it's absolutely divine) is pie made from it's first cousin, the Huckleberry. Huckleberries as far as I know still refuse to be domesticated. Best place to pick 'em is in the Northwest and they should be ripening right about now. Hot Huckleberry pie with a generous helping of French Vanilla on top.

Zagnut

Do they have Huckleberries in England? That is what we called the wild Blueberries that grew in the mountains where I grew up.

NO BLUEBERRIES? Now I know why our fore fathers came to the US.

It's even more confusing to me, as I ride both motorbikes and pushbikes in both the USA and England.

The most bizarre thing I ever saw was at a motorcycle rally in England where they had a USA pancake booth set up. The folks working the booth were all dressed up in red white and blue, and they were serving crepes with fillings like baked beans, sweet corn and tuna. At the same time.

I've never seen anything like that in the USA. It was pretty surreal.

Other than the food, England is great!

Az

I must say that those Meat Pies, or
Pasties as you call em are the greatest. There used to be an
English restaurant in my neighborhood that made those
things, and they were the BEST!

Stapfam

I spent 12 years with a British company, often traveling to London and Edinburgh, so I can relate to the word thing. You're doing great on figuring out the differences.

"I know I am English but a couple of "Word" peculiarities have got me worried that I may drop a Cobbler if I say the wrong thing."

I hope the Cobbler recovers. Here, a cobbler is someone who repairs shoes.