The usage of the word cookie varies markedly in different parts of the English-speaking world. The usual British perception is that it is the American equivalent of biscuit, but it is not quite so simple as that.
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What do British people mean when they ask for cookies?
biscuit. In the UK, this is a sweet treat that Americans would call a 'cookie'. 'Biscuit' in the US is a savoury dish made out of soft dough and is often served with gravy – a combination that definitely wouldn't work with a British biscuit! chips.
A biscuit is a cookie. A British person would only call chocolate-chip biscuits a cookie. Scones are a baked item made of firm dough. They are neither soft like bread or crisp like a cookie or a biscuit but are somewhere in between, a bit like the shortcake in strawberry shortcake, or American biscuits, except sweet.
Onion Gravy or Traditional British Gravy is what British people call gravy. Americans call it Brown Gravy, White Gravy (sawmill gravy or Breakfast Gravy), which is topped on biscuits.
The cucumbers which are simply called 'cucumbers' in North America are not widely available in Britain and are seen as unpalatable in the UK. They are sometimes known as 'garden cucumbers'. What North Americans call 'English cucumbers' are just called 'cucumbers' in Britain.
In the UK a cookie is often a little chunkier, softer and moister than a biscuit. More recent times have seen a cookies increase their appeal over the humble biscuit, with entire shops and stalls dedicated to their production and enjoyment.
British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.
In the case of Australian slang, words are clipped, and then a diminutive suffix is added to the clipped word. In this case, bikkie (the colloquial Australian word for a cookie), is clipped slang for biscuit (the British English word for a type of cookie), and it uses the -ie diminutive suffix.
The word butty, originally referring to a buttered slice of bread, is common in some northern and southern parts of England and Wales as a slang synonym for "sandwich," particularly to refer to certain kinds of sandwiches including the chip butty, bacon butty, or sausage butty. Sarnie is a similar colloquialism.
In the United Kingdom and some of the Commonwealth countries, the word pudding can be used to describe both sweet and savoury dishes. Unless qualified, however, the term in everyday usage typically denotes a dessert; in the United Kingdom, pudding is used as a synonym for a dessert course.
If you want some summer squash during a U.K. visit, keep an eye out for “courgette” instead of zucchini. The name also lends itself well to British “courgetti”—courgette spaghettie—or as Americans say, “zoodles.” Here's why Americans and Brits don't have the same accent.
Both the words 'fish' and 'chips' are English words. So, believe it or not, we call the meal 'fish and chips'. And, this is where it originated, so that's why everywhere else calls it that, too.
The word 'cookie' was used as a synonym for 'cake,' which was slang for a woman's body in general and specifically her buttocks. Over time, the word 'cookie' shifted its meaning to refer more directly to the female genitalia.
