American biscuits as British "cookies"? (Was: Tortillas and enchiladas )

[Carol]

Goddlefrood:
> > > 
> > > Crackers or cabin bread depending where you're from.
> > 
> > Carol:
> > 
> > "Crackers" for "biscuit" as "biscuit" is used by Americans? 
> > Really?
> > 
> > Crackers for Americans are flat and crispy; biscuits are fluffy 
and use baking powder rather than yeast to make them rise. They're
generally served with butter or margarine, sometimes with honey or jam. 
> 
> Goddlefrood:
> 
> Then you speak of cookies. The term is borrowed from the Americans. 
> I've also come across biscuit used in parts of America (and last 
> time I counted I'd been to 23 of your States) to describe what I 
> would usually call a cracker.

Carol responds:

"Cookies" to an American are what you call "biscuits." For example,
Ginger Newts would be cookies, as would "biscuits" made with chocolate
chips. But I was unaware, and still am not sure, that the reverse is
ture. You call a fluffy concoction made with flour, salt, and baking
powder and served with butter (or jam or honey) a "cookie"? The
closest thing I encountered in England to an American biscuit was a scone.

You seem to be saying that the usage is exactly backwards in the two
varieties of English: British "biscuit" = American "cookie" (which is
certainly correct) but British "cookie" = American "biscuit" as well?
I don't mean to be argumentative, but I really am not sure you're
correct here. I was unaware that British English used the term
"cookie" at all, but apparently, it's now being used for soft cookies,
with "biscuit" reserved for hard ones. ("Cookie," btw, was borrowed by
English colonists of North American from the Dutch settlers who
preceded them.) But "cookie" for what we call a "biscuit" seems unlikely.

This is an American cookie (British biscuit, right?):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Choco_chip_cookie.jpg

These are American biscuits (with honey):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Runny_hunny.jpg/395px-Runny_hunny.jpg

Wikipedia calls them a kind of "quick bread," though I've never used
the term myself.

Here's a link to the article accompanying the photo (though I know you
could have found it without help):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit

Carol, not sure that we agree on what a "cracker" is, either (the
edible kind, I mean)