In US restaurants we almost always get free refills of soda, coffee or iced tea. This is not so in Europe and it's never a nice surprise to those who are unaware of the difference.

Back in school we had a British exchange student who needed an eraser, so he asked the professor for a rubber. The whole class went nuts with laughter and this poor guy had no idea how funny that sounded to us. Someone finally figured out what he meant and explained it to him and he was so embarassed. I felt bad for him but he never made that mistake again.

I ate at Ikea next to CDG yesterday and it has free refills.

Is Canada included in the ROTESW? Or is it just ignored?

Also there's a difference between peperoni and pepperoni. The latter is the sausage.

I've wondered about how we came to use entrée for main course.

<i>I've wondered about how we came to use entrée for main course.</i>

Both flanner and I have explained why. We are following the classic French usage of the term. The usage of the term for appetizers/starters is a relatively recent phenomenon in France.

<i>I have been in places in the U.S. where they change the silverware and other places where they don't. Also in France.</i>

Agreed. I expect it at better restaurants, but many casual restaurants do not follow this practice. FWIW, I use the same silverware for multiple courses when at home.

Kappa, Oops, guess I can't think, forget about type. See what I mean about not being able to translate into the 24 hour clock?

On the other hand, if two weeks from today in French is 15 days, I suppose there can be forty hours in a day.

Forget entrées.
Why do people insist on calling the pudding course dessert?

<<not the girlie ones Americans use>>

Spare us the sexism, flanner. Congratulations on being consistently obnoxious.

Another European difference, though I'm not sure if it's true in the UK, is that when using your fingers to count or, e.g., show a number, Europeans start with the thumb being number one. In the USA, we tend to start with the index finger.

In Paris, there is the <b>menu</b>:

<i>entrée + plat + dessert</i>

And there is the <b>formule</b>:

<i>entrée + plat</i> or <i>plat + dessert</i>

I am not really very aware of alternate usages.

Sorry - one gets free refills of soda or coffee only in "family style" fast foodish restaurants (Applebee's or similar). Real restaurants - or even real coffee shops definitely charge for each beverage separtely.

nytraveler, that's not the case around here but perhaps it varies from one part of the US to another.

DalaiLama, this is a funny post!! Judging from the response you've gotten, it even borders on "insult". But, don't you know that the US is still and remains to be the destination of preference for ILLEGAL & LEGAL IMMIGRANTS? It is still the melting pot of all cultures and races which gives us a unique perspective on people's habits/practices all over the world.
There will always be SEMANTICS-remember Bill Clinton's famous "it depends on what IS is?" when caught red-handed with Lewinski? Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading your post and "fanny" can be a name as "Fanny Brice"

As already pointed out, entree is a main course. The term came from the age of fine dining when there were several main courses. The "entree" was the first of the main courses, NOT an appetizer. Yes, in some countries the term is now used to describe the appetizer course, but certainly not in the entire world other than the USA.

StCirq wrote: "Another European difference, though I'm not sure if it's true in the UK, is that when using your fingers to count or, e.g., show a number, Europeans start with the thumb being number one."

That's one of which you should take note, because in some places raising the index finger to indicate "one" is a rude gesture, and in other places (Europe is not monocultural) showing the index and middle fingers to indicate "two" involves an obscene gesture.

<i>Judging from the response you've gotten, it even borders on "insult".</i>

Not insulting. Ill-informed, yes. Laughably inaccurate, yes. Insulting, no. When posting "facts", one should take care that those "facts" are accurate. Otherwise, you risk people pointing out that you don't know what you are talking about.

I have no issue with pointing out the instances where Americans are a bit insular. But to, at the same time, lack enough self-awareness to realize that your Euro-centric view is, well, insular, is a bit too much to take. Our OP means well, I think, but meaning well doesn't prevent one from being wrong.

I don't think the OP means well at all, I've read a lot of his other posts. Look at the last line, and the first. It is meant to be insulting.

What's with the term "US-based" anyway, which is clearly not what is meant. Why not use the term American.

If you go around looking for things at which to feel insulted, you are sure to succeed.

Me, I go around looking for things to amuse me, and I find that I am fairly successful at that.

Take your pick.

Christina:
Please,don't forget canadians,mexicans,cubans,argentinians,uruguayans, peruvians,etc,etc,are all of them Americans.
I think a word is needed to refer the persons that are living in,or citizens of the USA; are americans is very misleading if you use it to refer only to persons that live in the USA.
Sorry for my poor english,but spanish is my first language,and I am an avid follower of this forun,and I am not US based nor Europe based.

Please read "as american is.....",thanks

And the tempest in the teacup rages on. I had thought that I had prefaced the post sufficiently to indicate my intent, by making reference to <i>avoiding costly misunderstandings and embarrassement</i>, but who reads that stuff, right? Thin-skinned folks get on the defensive so quickly, makes you wonder if they really read what is written?

I'm not talking about flanneruk's response, he who, as StCirq rightly remarks, has dibs "on being consistently obnoxious."

How broadly does humor have to be laid on to be perceived as such? How many winking emoticons does it take to convey that one isn't entirely serious about a last line in a post (Christina)?

What does my post have to do with legal or illegal immigrants heading for the US, or with Monica Lewd-inski (Chynk)?

Are US-residents the only Americans? Have you asked folks from other parts of that continent (Christina)?

Scathing travelgourmet, he who likes to indulge in Rechthaberei, seems to be very sure of himself, maybe a bit too much so - doesn't kerouac's post (he who lives in Paris) indicate that the entrée comes before the "plat"? Still, it was good to learn about travelgourmet's table manners when at home. Very pertinent.

To those who opine that all the points I bring up are already widely known ("...in an era of almost ubiquitous globalisation...") I beg to differ, from frequent personal observation. As the saying goes "if I had a dollar for everytime..." I could take you all to dinner, starters/appetizers/hors d'oeuvre <i>and</i> entrées included, in any order you wish...

A dollar for every time I have had to help with a timetable, clarify someone's date/month mixup, translate the alarming torch into the harmless flashlight, and so on. Not to mention witnessing the poor lady on a Sydney Harbour ferry who patted the seat next to her, inviting - in a very loud US-accented voice - her Australian hostess to "put your fanny right here" and having to deal with the consequences from some uncouth characters around her, followed by a whispered explanation from her hostess and a nowhere-to-turn moment of ashenfaced embarrassment.

This stuff is for real, folks - maybe not everywhere (oh yes, the Muslim calendar, forgot about that one), not everytime, but for real nevertheless.

Still, there are also the constructive responses, so it's not all about flaming and wanting to be right at all cost:

Mainhattengirl (she who, judging by that moniker, can be assumed to reside in Frankfurt am Main) backs me up on some points: "People come over here and make huge mistakes on flight times and arrival dates because they simply do not know about 24 hour clocks, nor the day, month, year thing."

St. Cirq and Padraig make an excellent point about the ways of using fingers to count. In a place where the raised thumb means one, when your raised index finger is spotted it is likely assumed that you also raised your thumb, and you might get an order of two.

kerouac’s point about the conversational preponderance of 24-hour time coming about because of media exposure is an interesting one. The formerly formal becoming the informal. “Meet you after work, at a quarter past five”, is it really not the brief <i>cinq heures et quart</i> any more? Interesting. I haven’t heard that change much yet, but then I don’t live in Paris, I only visit.

Live and learn.

FWIW, I have always found DalaiLama's posts to be both humorous and helpful. I can't imagine anyone taking offense at anything he/she writes. And this post was truly full of useful information!