Welcome to the first of our culture clash series. Since more than one American has joined the team, us British (especially me) are learning more and more about the differences between the two nations. 

Today it was ‘pudding’. In the UK, when we say this word, we often mean something like Christmas pudding, or deserts generally - this usage is especially common amongst the upper classes. In the US, when they say pudding, all they mean is what the British call 'custard'. 

An English pudding

An American pudding

So who's right? 

Well, the word originates from c.1300, when a pudding was "a kind of sausage: the stomach or one of the entrails of a pig, sheep, etc., stuffed with minced meat, suet, seasoning, boiled and kept till needed."

It remains unclear which is the correct usage of pudding.