# In the UK people call cake "pudding"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 8, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365 "2020-04-08T18:27:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 16

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**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/301 "2020-04-17T08:37:36Z")

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> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#):
>
> Okay, re: “hob” - definitely not a term in common use on this side of the pond. I’m assuming, from context, that cooking something “on the hob” means “on the stovetop”? Over here, we’d call that a “burner” or a “rangetop”.

Absolutely. A hob is the stovetop, burners, etc. (whether it’s actually on top of a stove or a separate, independent unit).

> [@](#):
>
> Going back to Dutch ovens, I guessed perhaps that  
> the term is more widespread in the US than the UK because Dutch (and German) people are, well, more widespread in the US; or at least, were during the colonial era. New York was of course originally a Dutch colony, and in the 18th century German held much the same position in the Middle Colonies that Spanish does today - a widely spoken alternative tongue. Benjamin Franklin once wrote about riding through Pennsylvania and hearing “devil a word but Dutch [German]” spoken.

Sounds perfectly plausible. My old German teacher told me about the language thing in school, incidentally. It’s occasionally come up in conversation, and is always oddly revelatory.

> [@](#):
>
> I’m guessing that since y’all don’t use the term, y’all are also unfamiliar with the, um, alternative definition of “Dutch oven”, as well… heh, heh, heh.

Not widespread (well, I guess being contained in a small space is kind of the point), but it is known. Perhaps more so than its use to refer to the cooking pot.

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**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/302 "2020-04-19T16:01:44Z")

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Huh. I always thought the Dutch in Dutch oven was one of those ‘not really but sorta like’ uses of dutch. Like dutch courage, dutch door, double dutch, dutch uncle.

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**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-uk-people-call-cake-pudding/851365/303 "2020-04-21T00:22:58Z")

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Another thread has just reminded me of this. Hamburger: hamburger _only_ means the patty in the UK (and it’s pretty much never called a patty). And because ham is a kind of meat, and burger is an accepted shortened form which has become totally generic (chicken burger, veggie burger, etc.), hamburger isn’t _that_ common either. A pack of frozen burgers is commonly labelled “beefburgers” (to distinguish them from “hamburgers” in the minds of misunderstanding Britons, I can only presume).

I remember my Dad disbelievingly saying “McDonald’s go on about their _ham_burgers but they also say their burgers are 100% beef!” when I was a kid.

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