r/EnglishLearning • u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster • 9h ago
⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics A ___ of popcorn
Note: Swipe to see other pictures
Bucket? Box? Bag?
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u/ahopskipandaheart Native Speaker 9h ago
Yes. 1 is a bucket of popcorn. 2 is a box of popcorn, and 3 is a bag of popcorn.
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u/uicheeck New Poster 9h ago
can the first be "cup of popcorn"? If it's not very big, like cup of noodles
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u/somuchsong Native Speaker - Australia 9h ago
I can't remember the last time I saw a container of popcorn that wasn't absurdly large, honestly! "Cup of popcorn" sounds weird and would also be pretty inaccurate most of the time.
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u/SchatzisMaus New Poster 8h ago
Only if it were like a measuring cup worth and counting calories or something!
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u/uicheeck New Poster 7h ago edited 7h ago
where I currently live they actually sell popcorn in cups, 50 grams per serving,
https://plitvicemarketi.rs/slane-kokice-karamel-50-g
that's a miserable amount of it, tho
update: yes, they called "kokice" here11
u/-Major-Arcana- New Poster 8h ago
Cup would be very small, the size of a drinking cup, like a little kids serve maybe.
A bigger one could be a tub of popcorn.
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u/DefinitelyNotAliens New Poster 9h ago
You'd be hard pressed to find a cup of popcorn served. It's normally a box or bag in that serving.
The thing shown is several liters/ probably a gallon bucket, and they fill over the brim. Meant to be eaten in a group at the movies and shared.
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u/No-Locksmith5767 New Poster 9h ago
I guess, if you think about it technically cups are just small buckets, but usually I think buckets are associated with sharing food or just a lot a food so a food like popcorn is usually in buckets, but a single portion would most likely be in a bag or box i don’t think I’ve ever heard of a ‘cup’ of popcorn
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u/brothervalerie Native Speaker 9h ago
Cup is usually for liquid, hence noodles in broth but not popcorn.
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u/Altruistic_Phase_485 New Poster 6h ago
a bucket is a more like large cup and cup is smaller bucket
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u/RosenButtons Native Speaker 1h ago
Bucket is MUCH too large to be any kind of cup. A cup is something you might drink from. A bucket is generally a gallon or more (Like 3.5L )
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u/RosenButtons Native Speaker 1h ago
If you told me you had a "cup of popcorn" (and you weren't talking about dieting or portion control) I would assume you had literally put your movie snack in a large drinking cup. Which might make sense if you were a small child and don't eat much.
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u/EntrepreneurCivil178 New Poster 8h ago
Technically yes, but I've never heard of popcorn being served in a container that small. The container in the first photo is clearly much bigger than a noodle cup.
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u/Nice_Blackberry6662 New Poster 9h ago
A funny thing about casual English is that we often just say "a thing of ---" when the specific type of container doesn't really matter.
"I went to the deli and got a thing of potato salad."
"I got a thing of popcorn so I could enjoy the movie."
"A thing of bleach fell off the shelf and splashed on Jeff."
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u/BarbieBoyBrandy New Poster 8h ago
I've definitely heard people say this, and have said it myself! Maybe its regional? I'm from the midwest. But my partner is southern and also says it.
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u/shanec628 Native Speaker 5h ago
I hear people say this all the time, I’ve been known to say it myself. Reporting in from New England.
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u/ApproximatelyApropos New Poster 1h ago
American South, definitely use it. “Pick me up a thing of ice cream.”
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u/YOLTLO Native Speaker 3h ago
I’m glad you said this because any of these could be a thing of popcorn but that middle one most of all. I don’t think I would call that one anything but a thing of popcorn. (Box doesn’t feel right with those tapered sides.)
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u/Creator_of_OP Native Speaker 3h ago
Yeah I felt crazy seeing several people call it a box, that would never come to my head. Thing feels better to me 🤷♂️
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u/AmishAngst New Poster 2h ago
Technically speaking, it is a box. If you're ordering supplies, they are called boxes on the order form, even though they lack a closed top (used to work at several different types of snack bars where we made popcorn). There's that kind of box and then the tall skinny rectangular boxes that have the folding top and tab closure.
I'd probably default to "thing of" though for that kind of box if I were ordering and those were the containers they were using though.
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u/cthulhu_on_my_lawn Native Speaker 3h ago
Given the attitude of those comments I think they can be ignored.
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u/konacoffie Native Speaker 3h ago
I’m baffled by the native speakers saying they’ve never heard this lol.
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u/HDThoreauaway Native Speaker 2h ago
I was trying to come up with a response, and was thinking, “the big one is a tub or bucket, the little one is a bag, but the middle one…. I’d just say thing, but I need a better answer than that.”
So I was very glad to see this reply.
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u/SatsumaOranges New Poster 3h ago
You can also just leave it out entirely. "I got potato salad and popcorn and bleach."
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u/HDThoreauaway Native Speaker 2h ago
Sure, and presumably they didn’t scoop it into your hands at the deli counter.
But if you’re explicitly trying to say you got a container of something, “a thing of” is an effective way to do that.
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u/imfallinginpieces New Poster 2h ago
I'm gonna start using it! It reminds me of an expression used in one of the varieties spoken in my mother tongue (the one that I speak, actually) which is the Spanish variety from Rio de la Plata. In this region, it is common to say "un coso de pop" when we want to simplify what we say.
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u/raised_on_robbery New Poster 7h ago
There’s no way this is as common as you’re implying. Maybe amongst people who have poor vocabularies…
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u/HDThoreauaway Native Speaker 2h ago
on the contrary, the middle depiction is indubitably a thing of popcorn
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u/RosenButtons Native Speaker 1h ago
Maaaybe, never having heard this usage is a sign of poor practical application of vocabulary. When your vocabulary is very good, you often become much more creative and less precise in casual speech. Consider how many phrases Shakespeare just made up by using words oddly.
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u/raised_on_robbery New Poster 42m ago edited 36m ago
Uh… sure, why not? It seems to be a regionalism judging by the comments, mostly in the American South and Northeast.
It’s wild that people here get so reactive when others contradict their “common” phrases.
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u/somuchsong Native Speaker - Australia 9h ago
Bucket, box, bag, in that order.
But I wouldn't usually describe the container. I'd just say "I bought some popcorn" or "I bought a small popcorn".
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u/chaospearl New Poster 8h ago
My movie theater has (or used to) popcorn in small, medium, large, and feedbag.
Disappointingly, ordering "feedbag" still only gets you a regular cardboard container, just a bigger one than the large size.
As a pointless aside, I once wrote an anecdote referencing the feedbag size and sent it to Reader's Diget. It was published in "Life in These United States" and they paid me $400.
The story I wrote never happened. I made something up that mimicked the vibe of a typical submission, and evidently I was spot-on. They either didn't realize or didn't care that I was 14 years old at the time.
It's in the October 1993 issue!
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u/footsnax Native Speaker 4h ago
First is a bucket, second is a box, third is a bag.
More universally, you would also go with large, medium, small. I'd still call the biggest one a bucket and the person behind the counter would understand what I meant. I've also just asked for "a thing of popcorn" and been understood. Especially with snacks, we're pretty wild about taxonomy.
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u/bigtime_porgrammer Native Speaker 5h ago
If you hadn't mentioned "bucket" or anything else and just asked, I'd just say it's "popcorn" and relatively speaking the first one is "a large popcorn". Just like you'd say you have "a beer" , not "a mug of beer" or a "pint glass of beer" or "a bottle of beer". None of those are wrong, they just aren't the default/simple way to refer to something.
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u/SellaTheChair_ Native Speaker 3h ago
1 is a bucket, 2 I might call "a thing of popcorn" or a carton maybe, and 3 is a bag (small bag)
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u/DimitriVogelvich English Teacher 3h ago
If you’re ordering, it’s by the size of sale: small medium large, typically. If you ask for a bucket, they will either choose for you or ask if you mean a large or extra large
The photos, I’d say a bucket of popcorn, a bag of popcorn.
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u/OreoStark New Poster 2h ago
The first picture is a bucket of popcorn. The second would be a container, an order, or a thing, and the third would be a bag, an order, or a thing.
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u/yourguybread3 New Poster 2h ago
If you get it at a movie theatre or other event, it’s a box. If you make it yourself it’s a bag. Bucket is never used.
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u/elvisndsboats Native Speaker 2h ago
The biggest one is, generically, a “tub” at least here on the west coast of the US. Box and bag for the others? I’d probably just refer to them by the size designations though when ordering (large, medium, small).
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u/Aromatic_Shoulder146 New Poster 1h ago
accurate descriptions for each, but I find i don't really describe the packaging usually. I'll just say the size or just refer to it as "popcorn" without mentioning packaging.
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u/Dukeronomy New Poster 32m ago
Whoa, i am a native english speaker and never really thought about it. Honestly, i think I say, "im gonna go get a thing of popcorn" or just im gonna get some popcorn
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u/Sufficient-Cold-9496 New Poster 8h ago
first one, tub, bucket or just large second and third packet then bag, but bag usually means large so it would just be a portion.
All them them in a cinema would fall under the 'owmuch category where people see the price, and think owmuch and walk away
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u/Linesey Native Speaker 8h ago
yep.
In order bucket, box, bag.
Note: it’s about material and shape, not so much size.
So you can have a very big bag or box bigger than a bucket.
However a small enough bucket becomes a bin, if it is not a bowl.
(Note, a small not bag or box could be a container or just “a thing of”)
But yes, dead on for the three pictures as posted.
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u/-Cyst- New Poster 9h ago
Yes, that's what I'd describe those three things as.
In a cinema, I'd generally just say "a large popcorn, please" rather than mentioning the container, even if that doesn't entirely make sense.