So it seems it’s not ‘spag bol’; it’s ‘a spag bol’, as in, “I made a spag bol for dinner last night.” Just as they don’t order in Chinese or Indian food, they order ‘a Chinese’ or get ‘a curry’ (the ‘meal’ is silent I guess).
And I saw my neighbours on pizza night – they had 6 pizzas: one each. I mentioned this to someone local who said, “Well what else would you do; what if they all want something different?” and I explained that in that case, in Canada we would order 2 large pizzas, one with only vegetables, and one that was half Hawaiian, half pepperoni, and that way everyone got something they sort of wanted, and no one was completely happy.
I told my cousin that I was surprised by British tuna sandwiches – the tuna is always made with sweetcorn (or ‘corn’ as we would say). She & her daughter thought celery in a tuna salad was bizarre.