terms when eating: piece, slice, scoop, bite

[curiousmarcus]

Child: I want some more carrots.

Parent: You still have a piece of carrot in your bowl. Eat it first before you ask for more.

Child: I want one potato.

Parent: You say, "I want a piece of potato".

Child: I want a piece of green pea.

Parent: You still have two pieces of green peas in your bowl. Finish them first.

Child: I want chicken, please.

Parent: How many would you like?

Child: One piece. (One slice?)

Parent: Okay, here's a piece of chicken.

Parent: No, don't use your spoon. You'll get your saliva into the food and it would spoil much more easily. We're still going to save some for dinner. Use this serving spoon.

Child: Can I have more sauce?

Parent: You still have a lot of sauce in your bowl. Okay, I'll give you two more scoops. These would be your last scoops, okay?

Child: I'm done.

Parent: Not yet, you still have food in your bowl. Just two more bites and you're done.

Underlined phrases are especially troublesome.

 

[Tarheel]

Carrots are usually sliced. We might refer to the slices of carrot as pieces of carrot or slices of carrot. If a child called that "carrots" I might correct him/her, and I might not not. (I don't know.) Potatoes are sliced into small pieces for putting into a stew. (When you make stew everything is mixed together, so it seems a bit odd to ask for one thing.) We usually eat several peas at a time, so we wouldn't ask for one pea.

 

[Tarheel]

We never refer to peas as pieces of peas. (Do you actually count the peas?)

 

[Tarheel]

You can have two peas, but not two pieces of peas.

 

[Tarheel]

Chicken in stew would, I guess, be called bites of chicken or pieces of chicken. (But in stew it's all mixed together.)

Fried chicken is sold (and eaten) by the piece.

 

[Tarheel]

Say:

Your food will spoil quicker.

 

[Tarheel]

Say:

These will be the last scoops.

A: Just two more bites.
B: But I'm still hungry.
A: But there's not much more. Later on we'll finish the stew, but we'll also have fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and apple pie.
B: Yum!

 

[curiousmarcus]

We never refer to peas as pieces of peas. (Do you actually count the peas?)

He's practicing his counting.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Child: I want some more carrots.

Parent: You still have a piece of carrot in your bowl. Eat it first before you ask for more.

Child: I want one potato.

Parent: Say, "I want some potato" or "I want a piece of potato". [I phrased it in those ways because in the picture it's cut up and mixed in.]

Child: I want green peas.

Parent: You still have two peas in your bowl. Finish them first.

Child: I want some chicken, please.

Parent: How much would you like?

Child: One piece. [Not "slice." In a stew it's not sliced, it's cut up.]

Parent: Okay, here's a piece of chicken.

Parent: No, don't use your spoon. You'll get germs into the food and it will spoil. We're still going to save some for dinner. Use this serving spoon.

Child: May I have more sauce?

Parent: You still have a lot of sauce in your bowl. Okay, I'll give you two more scoops. These will be your last scoops, okay?

Child: I'm done.

Parent: Not yet. You still have food in your bowl. Just two more bites and you're done.

Underlined phrases are especially troublesome.

That's how I'd say it.

 

[Tarheel]

One pea, two peas -- how many peas can I eat?
One pea, two peas -- I'd rather have a beet!

One pea in a spoon -- another makes two!
One pea for me, and one for you!

Three green peas -- one, two, three!
Three tasty peas all for me.

Three peas and one more.
Three and one make four.

I always eat my peas with honey.
I've done it all my life.
It makes them taste kind of funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.




~Ron

 

[Tdol]

He's practicing his counting.

You would need to cut the peas up to have pieces of peas. He's not counting pieces of peas but whole peas in the picture.

 

[Tarheel]

Who cuts peas into pieces? They're too small for that.
I put my peas in melted cheese and give them to my cat.

 

[Tarheel]

Feel free to use those counting rhymes. Also, I can always make more. (If there's one thing I know it's that kids like rhymes -- especially funny ones.)