Biscuit or Cookie?

[DavidUK]

My kids eat big round things labelled 'cookies'. I say we are not American so we should call them biscuits, my wife says they're not the same as biscuits and so it is right to call them cookies. So, are cookies bought in the UK different from biscuits or is this another step towards us becoming Americans?

[Cathy]

I would say that a cookie is a type of biscuit. If I was offered cookies I wouldn't expect digestives, for example.

[mikewith]

I with you, David. Biscuits not cookies. No Trick or Treat. Skater is not spelled "sk8er". But I fear we are losing the battle.

[darth vader]

Why are they different then Mrs DavidUK? Definitely biscuit, not cookie.

[WendyW]

BISCUIT ... there I shouted. I hate the term Cookie.

[yousay]

Biscuits and cookies are exactly the same thing, cookie sounds so moorish. Cornflour and cornstarch are the same thing, baking paper and parchment paper are the same as well. What on earth have you uptight English people got against other cultures, I know some Americans feel the same. How many of you enjoy McDonalds or KFC? No I am not a American although I have visited and had a wonderful time with the people I met, clean and healthy.

[yousay]

I have taken my two feet out of my mouth. Please accept my apologies for my rude uptight comment, it was uncalled for.

[xyzzyplugh]

You say tomato and I say tomato [doesn't work in text] What about You say terrorist and I say freedom fighter? Not very biscuity though [apart from Garibaldi] Would an English version of the Cookie Monster sound dynamic, as the Biscuit monster? Biscuit, incidentally is French for 'cooked twice'; Oh crumbs, where is this answer going? And anyway, How can a cookie be so powerful when it's only 2k What does it do? Exactly?

[Cetti]

Your wife is right David - cookies are different. Being American they're naturally much larger (no offence here-they just are!!) and the sugar content is far higher, which gives them that lovely squidgy texture. You must have eaten 'Brownies' - mostly sugar and chocolate = chewy. Nothing wrong with our biccies, in fact it's good to make and eat both - and No, we get to keep our British accents ;-)

[Hippy]

"Uptight English"?? YouSay? I am British, and I don't think that I am as nervously tense or angry as YouSay, but I do not welcome the insidious infiltration by stealth of our culture and language by that of the United States of America.

I am a lifelong vegetarian so am not overly attractd to Mr. MacDonald's emporia or the delights of KFC. However, I am equally unmoved by the relentless tide of violence and gun weilding terror that the USA sems to espouse and encourage.

This may seem like a red rag waving and I expect that some may think that in some way I think that the USA brought that terrible World Trade Centre carnage upon itself. Calm down I do not go so far as to think this, but I do consider the USA to be a more violent culture than ours on a personal level. This is one aspect of the "American Way" that I think we could do well without. The "Biscuit/Cookie" debate is symptomatic of the culture drift that I fear will lead to a worse deal for us all.

[DavidUK]

Thanks for the apology "yousay" but there was no need - I appreciate a lively debate! To put the record straight: I have some good friends in the US but I just don't want the whole world to become American any more than I want it to become English. Why can't we enjoy the difference and call it a biscuit in England and a cookie in the US? It's fine to use a foreign word where we don't have an English word to describe it but I'm not sure that that is the case here. And, Cetti, I'm not sure just being bigger and sweeter entitles them to have a different name. At least we have the same name for bomb so there's no confusion about what we use to kill all these pesky foreigners with (oops - should I stick with cookies?).

[Hamish]

Biscuits and cookies are different. According to a recipe book I have a biscuit is brittle and dry (as in a digestive) where as a cookie has a softer texture and is more moist. Hope that stops the fight going on here!

Hamish

[yousay]

My golly gosh cookies/ biscuits/ war, I don't get the connection. In Australia a Duvet is called a Doona. In America a scone is called a biscuit. In America, a cookie is just a biscuit to the rest of us from most English speaking countries. God Bless.

[Ravforu]

English is believed to have derived from the Frisian language. It has evolved over time. Several words have been added and or modified from various languages and many words, thousands have disappeared from English because of disfavor and or dis-use. Why, whilst the language continues to evolve, do you refuse to accept the inevitable. There are 60 million Brits, 32 million Canadians, less than 20 million Aussies and 290 million Americans. Sadly, the majority will tend to rule on this point. So in all likelihood biscuits will eventually become cookies and scones will eventually become biscuits. You're not being Americanized, English is continuing its evolution.