I have an interesting shopping experience to relate. I often forget how deep the 'across-the-pond' differences are, despite the common language. I went into the store last week to buy more of this product for a curry I was preparing - diced beef for stews and curries.
I couldn't find any on the fresh meat shelf where I expected to find it, so sought out the nearest Tesco associate to ask for assistance. I asked if he had any more cubed beef. He directed me to stocks and gravies in aisle 3 where the Oxo cubes were.
"Nope, I said those are stock cubes, I'm looking for fresh beef cut up into pieces. Maybe you have another word for it?"
"I'm not sure we carry that ..."
"Oh yes you do, I bought some here last week. I just need more of the same," I said, going through my description again of what the product was. (I didn't think to use stewing beef as a synonym).
He turned to his Tesco App and entered 'beef cubed' into his search and showed me. The 6 things that came up were all beef stock cubes. I was flabbergasted, and went back to the fresh meat section where I found only beef strips - they would do. In reporting my findings to Dale, the word 'diced' suddenly came to me - I'd asked for cubed beef, not diced beef, but I thought the description I'd given was pretty obvious. In the associate's defense though, I must add that he was probably 18 or 19 and didn't know one could buy specifically cut meats for stews, so my description was of no help.
To top it all, there really was none available in the store anyway, so the definition and misdirection was moot. The beef strips fitted the bill of course.
