Cultural Differences and Potato Terminology

Robot or not John, Wes wrote in a robot at the incomparable dot com with this one. What is the difference between a topping and a stuffing and can they be one and the same? Now there's a great story that goes along with this from Wes. So I love this story. This is why I wanted to read this question. At work, we have a canteen cafeteria with fresh food for us daily. Often the menu has baked potatoes on it, and we have all sorts of options to eat with a potato . However, we also changed to a TV screen menu thing above the serving area, whereas before we had posted menus of the day. On the menu TV , I have a side note here which is like this is a story never goes well we repl likeaced the p osted menu with a TV screen. It just never goes well. On the menu TV, I see that baked potato is there as an option, but it's listed like this, baked potato, various stuffing options available . Being in the UK, Scotland, I know things with the English language can be different versus the US, but topping and stuffing are very specific in their names. There shouldn't be ambiguity on this. And I asked my coworkers when I came back to the table, and some of them, native Scottish folk, defended the use of stuff ing because the options are on place on slash in the potato after it's cut open and can then be closed in quotes. That is what Wes sent in. And I just I love, I love it. I love the idea that because theoretically you could slice a potato in half, put a bunch of toppings on them, and then I guess mash 'em together so that it all squeezes out the sides or h ollow them out so that there is just a some bacon bits and sour cream on the inside of it that that somehow makes it stuffing. So I think this is a wild idea but and I know there's be going to some cultural differences between the US and the UK and honestly between Scotland and other parts of the UK as well. But I was wondering what you thought about toppings and stuffings, certainly on baked potatoes. Yeah, it's worth reiterating that this is a US show and doesn't speak for any other cultures, even ones that seemingly might be similar to us. I've never heard stuffing used to refer to things put on baked potatoes in the U. S. is just not used. But of course, over there they call desserts pudding and all sorts of things. You know, the whole cookie biscuit chip thing, like it's I'm not going to say that it's wrong in their context, but in the U. S. that would that would be wrong. You know, just because you can, like I said, reclose something, like it's just, it's just not the way baked potatoes are made. They don't, they aren't stuffed in that way and setting aside the turkey stuffing that can be made outside the turkey and not stuffed into anything, which sort of gets in on a technicality and do what you should call dressing. I mean, you can call it stuffing if you want. Everybody knows what it means, but it's dressing at that point, but yeah, you can, but it's but the thing is stuffing as was used for that for so long that even now that it is not in fashion to stuff it anymore, it's still called stuffing. Right. Because don't stuff it in there because then you could get contaminated with and there's no there's like I mean, I'm sure on the internet you can find something it was like hollow out of potato and shove stuff in stuff potatoes do that. But even then you wouldn't really call it stuffing with like as like a proper noun. You would say maybe the stuffing in this recipe is the stuff you shove inside the potato but it sounds like they just have baked potat oes with toppings and I don't know why they're calling them stuffing. Again, it might be a regional thing. Yeah. Maybe a Scottish Scottishism it's wrong in the U. S., not stuffing. It's not what we would do. I wanted to have I just some other UK potato related things I wanted to mention, which is I am delighted by the fact that baked potatoes in the UK are frequently called jacket potatoes . I love it. Like no jacket required. No, these are fancy potatoes. They wear a jacket. Okay . I love it. And for other questions about weird semantic things in the UK, I guess you should start a podcast and call it something like robot in it ? No, because you know what I would do if I had to make that podcast. I would be sure to intentionally use Init in a way that is grammatically incorrect correct if literally expanded because that particular usage drives me up a wall. Yes, I drive them up a wall. It's perfectly normal to them. But robot isn't it is grammatically correct. So we have to write a context where we would use Init and, it would not be grammatically correct if expanded to isn't it? That's true. I'm sorry. That title is too good to be used. Trammatically correct. It makes too much sense. Yeah, we can't. We need to go for the most offensive to me use of in it . Yeah, which is like, I don't know. I heard one of the other day we're going on vacation, in it . Just I can't take it, can't take it. All right, we salute you, everyone in the UK. Robot or not