American iced feast or delicate English treat?
sir – Tanya Gold (Comment, August 24) dislikes Americanisms when there is a perfectly good English alternative – and I agree with her when it comes to calling a railway station a train station or saying “going forward” instead of “from now on”.
However, some of her examples are actually distinct from their American equivalents. A fairy cake is a little delicate thing with a drizzle of icing and a cherry on top, whereas a cupcake is made in larger, deeper cake tins and is a meal in itself. Similarly, a cookie is a saucer-sized thing full of raisins and nuts and chocolate chips and might be soft and chewy – totally unlike a biscuit, which is smaller, has a finer texture and must be crunchy and eminently dunkable (dippable).
There is room for all these nouns in our rich language, reflecting different nuances. As for some Americans adopting wonky, dodgy and holidays, I think these are more likely to have come from our excellent British film industry than from Edwardian-era Downton Abbey – where the downstairs staff did not enjoy holidays as such and the upstairs family were on a continual one.
Jane O’nions Sevenoaks, Kent