Well, never, of course. But these two words are quite often confused by English-language learners. It makes sense really. The two words obviously sound similar, and that’s particularly true for speakers of languages which don’t make such a distinction between the ch (/ʧ/) and k (/k/) sounds. And of course it’s logical to create an association between the two things: where else are you going to keep your chicken?
This mistake is just one of the many common mistakes learners make that are quite hard to imagine before you start teaching. And that’s why when you see English lessons on TV or in films, they’re never really like the real thing, and that goes for the mistakes students make. Of course they have to think of making entertaining work first, though I can imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to get a cheap laugh out of the chicken/kitchen confusion.
A similar mistake, confined mainly to Romance-Language speakers, is to say something like I love French kitchen. While this might sound odd to our ears, if you know that in French, Italian, and Spanish, the same word (cuisine/cucina/cocina) is used to mean both cooking and kitchen. And it does kind of make sense that the words would share the same meaning: where else are you going to do your cooking? And given that in these countries, cooking and eating have a more integral place in daily life than in most Anglophone countries (and much better food), it makes sense that cooking and the kitchen would be equated.
And we don’t deny that, though we’re catching up, we’ve not always had a great culinary culture in English-speaking countries. That’s probably why we use cuisine instead of cooking when we want to talk about good cooking. Or perhaps, if it’s really good, we’ll extend to haute cuisine (high cooking) or gourmet (gourmet). Doubtless that’s also because we like the sound of French.
Anyway, just some food for thought the next time you feel like some haute chicken.
I taught in China a few years back and some of the kids couldn’t say my name ‘Oliver’ so called me ‘Elephant’, quite quickly that’s what the whole school called me! Don’t know why but your post reminded me of that, great read as always
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That’s so funny, I don’t think I’d mind being called “Elephant” much!
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Ha! You win! That’s not at all what I thought chicken kitchen would be about. I even googled it, yotubed it thinking it was something colloquial. There are some interesting Irish cooking (cookery) videos. Just learned how to milk a cow. Yep, I am all ready for the eclipse and the apocalypse 🙂
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You see the ancillary benefits you get from reading my blog 😊?
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Don’t milk cows during the eclipse. Animals are really thrown by the sudden dimming of the light – probably even kitchen chickens
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It’s like when a guy says “Je suis faim” instead of “J’ai faim”. No wonder he gets strange looks!
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“I am hunger!!” I may have accidentally said that a few times!
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[…] is itself an interesting word. Like chicken and kitchen, story is an annoying word for speakers of Romance languages, which all use the same word to mean […]
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I can see the similarities 😀 In Spanish we say, for instance: “me gusta la cocina argentina” , which translates to “I like the argentina kitchen”. The problem to many people is that they just “do a literal translation in their minds”… when they try to say or write something in another language… And that clearly doesn´t work well, at least it doesn´t most times. Excellent post Niall (A brief note to you: I still didn´t sign in my blog, hence I owe you the widget. Will do that soon, as I told you!)… Sending love & best wishes ⭐
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Me gusta la cocina argentina indeed :). I still find myself translating directly into French sometimes, particularly when I accidentally tell people I’m dead instead of I’ve finished by saying “Je suis fini!” No rush with the widget, just happy you’re reading and enjoying it :).
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You are the second Argentinian English typist I have run across, and you both use backticks for apostrophes. Is that a thing in the country?
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[…] are a lot less hot and spicy, so we weren’t used to using the terms properly before international cuisine became much more common. And then, as we began to eat more food that was both hot and spicy […]
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Chickens for All!!
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Hear Hear!
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[…] When it’s someone I might email a few times a day, and might have been chatting to in the kitchen ten minutes earlier, it’s not worth giving much thought to, and I certainly don’t need […]
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[…] the late 19th century, the term was adopted by the the French culinary magazine La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu, and is retained by the international school of hospitality […]
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I forgot to mention in 2017, that there is a evident thing called “Kiek in de Kök” in old Germanic areas of Europe. I absolutely refused to believe it wasn’t a satyric attempt at saying “Kick in the cock” and am still suspicious.
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Given the general knowledge of English in Germany, it has to have been deliberate!
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You can visit one here: https://linnamuuseum.ee/kiek-de-kok/kulastajale/
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