cereal

English translation: anything from cornflakes to frosties (not porridge, not Muesli)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	(the every day meaning of) cereal
Selected answer:	anything from cornflakes to frosties (not porridge, not Muesli)
Entered by:	Paula Vaz-Carreiro

11:44 Dec 10, 2004

English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Social Sciences - Food & Drink

English term or phrase: cereal

Light Breakfast means cereal or toast only
Fluid means water.

Dictionary suggests that cereal means a breakfast food prepared from grain. Is it also called as porridge or it has some other special name? Thanks

Ketan

*******

Explanation:
I am not sure what your doubt is but here is my contribution. In the UK at least, anyone confronted by that sentence would assume that "cereal" meant Cornflakes, Frosties, Special K, or some such thing. If they meant porridge they'd have written porridge because porridge is cooked oats with milk and/or water. Muesli is yet another kind of breakfast cereal (it has oats and nuts and dried fruit and is not cooked). But again, if they meant this kind of breakfast ceral the they'd have written that.
HTH

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Note added at 1 hr 38 mins (2004-12-10 13:22:58 GMT) Post-grading
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\"confronted with\" (not \"by\" I think is much better.

Selected response from:

Paula Vaz-Carreiro

Grading comment

Thanks a lot! You have made the concept very clear. Sometimes, dictionaries fail to provide us with the practical meaning. The meaning explained by you was unavailable anywhere but this is just what I was looking for.
My sincere thanks to other contributors as well.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +2

*******

Paula Vaz-Carreiro

4 +2

Explanation below

Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.

3 +1

difference between cereal and porridge

Orla Ryan

Answers

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Explanation below

Explanation:
Definitions of cereal on the Web:

breakfast food prepared from grain, as in: My favorite cereal is Grape-Nuts; what's yours?
www.business-words.com/dictionary/S.html

Broad term for a group of grass plant species cultivated as food grains, where as barley is one.
www.foamrangers.com/brewhouse/glossary_C.html

Grass that produces an edible grain (e.g. oats, wheat, barley).
www.lbap.org.uk/HTML/glossary/defin.htm

grass such as wheat, oats, or corn, the starchy grains of which are used as food.
www.futureharvest.org/about/glossary.shtml

grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

grain: foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

a breakfast food prepared from grain
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

made of grain or relating to grain or the plants that produce it; "a cereal beverage"; "cereal grasses"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

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Note added at 4 mins (2004-12-10 11:49:26 GMT)
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Definitions of porridge on the Web:

soft food made by boiling oatmeal or other meal or legumes in water or milk until thick
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

Oatmeal.
www.sallys-place.com/travel/oceania/glossary_australia.htm

Hot cooked (usually oatmeal) cereal.
www.idunno4recipes.com/KitchenGuide/GlossaryP.htm

Thick oatmeal rarely found on American tables since children were granted the right to sue their parents. The name is an amalgamation of the words \"Putrid,\" \"hORRId,\" and \"sluDGE.\"
www.geocities.com/southbeach/Palms/4722/rc_ccd.htm

Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.
Bangladesh
Local time: 04:29
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Bengali

21 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

difference between cereal and porridge

Explanation:
Porridge is a type of cereal, but is eaten hot, prepared with warm milk or water.

Cereals usually come pre-packaged and are ready to eat from the pack with a dash of milk, whereas you have to cook porridge.

However, diets usually specify whether you should eat porridge or cereal, so I think you can interpret this as standard breakfast cereal like Kelloggs' Corn Flakes etc.

Reference: http://www.kellogs.com

Orla Ryan
Ireland
Local time: 23:29
Native speaker of:

English

16 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

*******

Paula Vaz-Carreiro
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Portuguese,

English

Grading comment

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English translation: anything from cornflakes to frosties (not porridge, not Muesli)

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