"But is it a /donut/ donut??"

[MoonCat]

I think I know what she was getting at.

This kind or this kind.

Or am I being too reasonable?

Also, what on God's earth is a timbit? How can you get the hole of a doughnut?

Well, you start with a big lump of dough, and you use a doughnut cutter to cut out the shape of the doughnut. It cuts out the middle, leaving a hole; and if you fry up that little lump of dough, you have a doughnut hole.

Timbits are what Tim Horton's calls their doughnut holes.

[paxillated]

There are donuts, and cake donuts. Both are fried.

Cake donuts are made from cake mix.

Real donuts are made from yeast-raised dough. (Can you guess which I like best?)

Either kind can be frosted, glazed, have sprinkles, etc. But give me a plain, glazed donut over any of the others. I lived across the street from a Dunkin Donuts for a year or so - and thus my weight gain began.

[Cia]

Cake or raised donuts? I'll take either one.

[Food Lady]

I figure, too, that she was asking cake or yeast. I definitely like yeast donuts better, frosted or unfrosted. If I wanted cake, I'd get cake.

[Chazzie]

There are donuts, and cake donuts. Both are fried.

Cake donuts are made from cake mix.

Real donuts are made from yeast-raised dough. (Can you guess which I like best?)

Either kind can be frosted, glazed, have sprinkles, etc. But give me a plain, glazed donut over any of the others. I lived across the street from a Dunkin Donuts for a year or so - and thus my weight gain began.

This. it wasn't a shell versus hole deal, she wanted to know what the dough was made of.

Just spend a couple eight hour shifts around them. You'll never want one again.

[vikingchyk]

I kinda get it. Dunkin makes a very dense chocolate cake, chocolate glazed cake donut (and thank god it's 12 miles away or I'd be in the car just thinking about them). But most of their donuts are more or an airy dough. But I'd still lost in that conversation.

Every time my husband is going for donuts, we have to have the same clarifying discussion on what a cake donut versus yeast donut is. Every. Single. Time.

Unless I tell him I want a tractor tire

[MoonCat]

Y'know where I actually used to get the best doughnuts? Woolworth's. Believe it or not, when that store was here they had these fantastic doughnuts made in-store. My favorite one was covered with an orange-flavored glaze and had little bits of orange on it. They also had one that had raisins in it. They were all delicious.

[SilverOrb]

Just spend a couple eight hour shifts around them. You'll never want one again.

QFT.

I used to sell "Krispy Cream" donuts for school fundraisers... The smell alone makes me want to puke.

[Kristev]

It's not a donut. It's a do not. Do not ask stupid questions if you expect service, that is.

No, the joke isn't mine. I've known about it years ago from a comic strip where a girl was eating donuts and coffee with her mother, but the woman acted like every move the girl made was wrong. When the father came in, the girl replied "We're having coffee and do nots."

[Sliceanddice]

Wait. There are donuts that are not donut donuts? What the heck even is a donut donut? How does it differ from a normal donut? I love donuts, so I have to find out. Dang it, now I want to try a donut donut, whatever the heck that is?

on cook your ass off someone once made eggplant donut.... i felt violated from afar

[EricKei]

It gets even more confusing in New Orleans --

We often refer to beignets as "doughnuts" (tho mostly in the phrase "coffee and doughnuts" -- the former is assumed to be straight black and strong enough to beat you up , and the latter gets buried in powdered sugar, ideally. Mmmmmmmmmmmm) -- We also have another name for a specific type of donut holes/Timbits: "Buttermilk Drops" (obtained from Tastee Donuts)

[Seshat]

dalesys, ya beat me to it. I am a native English speaker and have pretty much given up on trying to remember the difference between licence/license and defence/defense.

Licence and Defence are Oxford English Dictionary/English spellings.
License and Defense are Webster's English Dictionary/American spellings. And I had to 'correct' myself to type them.

On the other hand, advice is a noun and advise is a verb; so if one advises someone they give them advice. THOSE two words ARE different.

So are affect and effect: if you affect something, you create an effect on it.
And just to complicate matters further, in psychology, affect is a jargon (specific-field) word that is used to describe the appearance of an emotional state.

Counsel is advice, and Council is a meeting of people (or, as in the case of a Town Council, a term describing a specific group of people who have a particular type of meeting). So if a council gets some specialists in, the specialists might counsel the council.

.... and I'm derailing the conversation.

Point is: English is HARD. It's what happens when you take a bunch of northern European and Southern European languages, smoosh them together with some Celtic languages, mix in a whole heap of Arabic languages, steal words from several African and Asian and Indian-subcontinental languages, and spice liberally with every other language in the world.

[AccountingDrone]

It gets even more confusing in New Orleans --

We often refer to beignets as "doughnuts" (tho mostly in the phrase "coffee and doughnuts" -- the former is assumed to be straight black and strong enough to beat you up , and the latter gets buried in powdered sugar, ideally. Mmmmmmmmmmmm) -- We also have another name for a specific type of donut holes/Timbits: "Buttermilk Drops" (obtained from Tastee Donuts)

CDM coffee, beignets and OJ at 6 am before the summer heat hits.... heavenly.

[Geek King]

Point is: English is HARD. It's what happens when you take a bunch of northern European and Southern European languages, smoosh them together with some Celtic languages, mix in a whole heap of Arabic languages, steal words from several African and Asian and Indian-subcontinental languages, and spice liberally with every other language in the world.

"English hits other languages over the head in dark alleys, then goes through their pockets for loose grammar." --Someone Else

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I figure, too, that she was asking cake or yeast. I definitely like yeast donuts better, frosted or unfrosted. If I wanted cake, I'd get cake.

Personally I like either one. Of course give me a dozen of KK glazed and I can make half of those disappear in one sitting!

And other times I have a taste for those thick, rich frosted Entermann's - now I'm hungry just reading this thread.