Bill or Check?

larchielads

Why do americans call the bill the check? my understanding is a bill is something you pay for with cash or a cheque. Reason why i asked is when i was over there recently i asked for the bill and at the end of the bill it sayed check total: x amount of dollars.

i know what your thinkin....why didint i just ask when i was over there:rolleyes:

Sauve

Because that's the why.

Mr.Biscuits

I just say: 'What's the damage there sweetcheeks'.

.. and most likely have my food spat in next time I'm in.

The King of Moo

I was hoping your anecdote would end with a slightly annoyed chef called Bill emerging from the kitchen asking why you wanted to talk to him.

I'm not really sure why they call it "check." Like many American words/spellings, it might simply have been an attempt to differentiate American English from British English as a cultural-nationalist statement (Thomas Jefferson, I believe, had some crazy notions about changing spelling).

Or it might have come from another language used by immigrants, like the way they use the Italian word "zucchini" for "courgette," as a great number of Italian immigrants would have used it a lot in their cooking.

I might be nowhere the truth, however.

Sauve

Go to bed Moo...

The King of Moo

Sauve wrote: »

Go to bed Moo...

But my brain's still going, and I just wanted to help .

You're mean...:(

Jesus Wept

Cheque?

grindle

Czech.

The King of Moo

Andy Carroll wrote: »

Cheque?

I'm pretty sure they spell it "check" in America, so I guess when referring to the word when used to refer to the receipt in a restaurant, we could defer to them and spell it that way.

Jesus Wept

The King of Moo wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they spell it "check" in America, so I guess when referring to the word when used to refer to the receipt in a restaurant, we could defer to them and spell it that way.

They also spell cheque as check.
:-/

Lionel Messy

Who the ****ing hell cares? If your gonna start a thread, make it bloody half interesting, at least.

Trollsbury Trollington

Lets all settle half-way on 'invoice'.

antodeco

The reason being is that American money is called 'bills'!

donegal_man

Looked this up in a couple of dictionaries (i know!) and they suggest because it's a slip of paper or the means to check that you are being charged the correct amount for the meal you had.
The sad fact is nobody knows for sure.

cournioni

Put it on my tab.























(doesn't have a tab)

jester77

Cultures are weird, here they ask for a Rechnung!