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Comment by ssl232 | Hacker News Reader

TIL macarons [1] are also known as macaroons [2]. Where I'm from, macaroons are dense, sweet coconut treats and the French sweets are known as macarons. But from the Wikipedia article I see macaroons mean many different things to many different people.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaron

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroon

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This feels relevant to the conversation: https://twitter.com/BigSpiderBack/status/864309383106240512/...

> Where I'm from, macaroons are dense, sweet coconut treats and the French sweets are known as macarons.

Same for me (New England, USA).

Both are delicious, but in my dialect they are not the same thing.

This is not a dialect thing, this is a factual thing. They are different, and anyone that uses macarOOn to mean a sweetly filled meringue sandwich is wrong.

> TIL macarons [1] are also known as macaroons [2]

Not to forget macarrons! Where I'm from, macarrons [3] is a kind of pasta (penne).

[3] https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarrons

In English "macaroni" is a kind of pasta. (I'm being deliberately vague because which pasta it is seems to vary.)

And the original name for that type of pasta in Italian is "maccheroni" (which are straight tubes, unlike the ones used abroad for "mac and cheese")

Or in English macaroni https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni

Switzerland has the similar Luxemburgerli, which my Swiss friends who reside there (as opposed to me, a Swiss person who lives somewhere else) swear is NOT the same as a macaron... I have never understood the purported differences.

it messed with my head to hear that the english world interprets an "entrée" as a main course

American English, but not British. Dinner here is a starter, main course and dessert. "Entrée" messes with my head as well, since it very much sounds like a starter.

It's French for starter, even

> Dinner here is a starter, main course and dessert.

Yep. Check out the online menus in English restaurants and pubs. 'Mains' is the typical term used.

It's also the electrical supply. What a country.

And the water supply. And the central building on farms (in Scotland, at least). It's a silly country.

Don't even think about "a la mode" then.

I speak French, not Italian!

Oh funny, I actually came to this comment thread to point out that they'd accidentally used a picture of macarons instead of macaroons in the blog. But I guess not necessarily!

I was just about to complain. Thanks for nipping it in the bud!

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