What’s the difference between “dressing” and “stuffing”?
Thanksgiving Dinner With A Little Bit Of Everything
A2 English listening practice · African American Vernacular English · Picked for people who know a little
Most Americans call the Thanksgiving bread side stuffing. In Black American and Southern households, it’s almost always dressing. The two words are not the same dish: dressing is usually made with cornbread, baked in a pan in the oven, and served alongside the turkey. Stuffing is often made with white bread, packed inside the bird, and cooked there. The split runs deep: a Black or Southern cook hearing the word “stuffing” can spot a non-Southern visitor in one syllable.
In this clip, a host walks through her Thanksgiving spread: “turkey, fried chicken, fried fish, oxtails, goat, turkey wings, cabbage, collard greens, mac and cheese, dressing, yams, mashed potatoes.” The word dressing sits naturally in the list.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A2 English listening practice video?
How common in written English
How common in spoken English
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Black American Thanksgiving family meals
- ▸In Southern American kitchens during the holidays (Texas to Virginia)
- ▸In Black food YouTube and TikTok (Tabitha Brown, Kenji López-Alt)
- ▸In Southern cookbooks (Edna Lewis, Vivian Howard)
- ▸In Black and Southern Thanksgiving newspaper features