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Joe's Cafe, 24/7 pit stop for ESL learners and teachers | August 2008
Egg's off, bacon's off, bread's off, tea's off. English is on though.

Things are not always what they seem

Made in USA or EU?
OK, so it’s a bag of onions, found in a supermarket in Bangkok. But where did it come from? On the left it says “Product of USA”. On the right it says “Produit de EU” (French for “Product of the European Union”?). Can anyone come up with a convincing argument to explain how a bag of pearl onions can come from two different continents?

Joe | Friday, August 22nd, 2008 | Filed under Curiosities

13 Responses to “Things are not always what they seem”

  1. hanane says:
    22nd August 2008 at 5:45 pm

    Hello Dear Sir,
    Nice to hear from You. And give me sometime to think it over.
    Regards

  2. Emi Bach Yen says:
    22nd August 2008 at 8:54 pm

    same here, on one side of my phone battery charger it says made in Germany, on the other side it speaks made in China. I think it was made in China with the Germany imported production line or it was made by a China-based Germany company. Whatever it says, I know where it was made though.

  3. Chingis says:
    24th August 2008 at 9:52 am

    Truth is simple, the E.U. = Etats Unis, another way to say the US. Sort of a weak question in a way, romance language are all sort of lumped together but other ones aren’t - as any ESL teacher can attest. So… the packaging is not that confusing. But hey try learning an Asian language if this little dilemma causes pause in the curve; things are what they seem even though they can appear not what they seem.

  4. Joe says:
    24th August 2008 at 2:52 pm

    Well done Chingis!

  5. hanane says:
    25th August 2008 at 8:44 am

    SO,no way to think about it any more: I din’t thought that easy!

  6. hanane says:
    26th August 2008 at 10:39 am

    I did not think it’s that easy.

  7. missdyan says:
    8th October 2008 at 9:57 pm

    i know…. product du EU..(estados unidos)..unites states in spanish or…états-unis french…… in south america we call the states… as eeuu, eu (only in french) and us… just a spelling thing, that’s because mixture between french and english is quite crazy…. like french canadians.. anyways… think of the rout of the language…

  8. bashir says:
    9th October 2008 at 12:30 pm

    Greetings!
    Absoluteley interesting! to have such an issue on the table, but before saying some thing about it, i need some more ideas from fellow learners!

  9. Oxfordmark says:
    6th November 2008 at 4:19 pm

    Maybe the fact that les Etats Unis is the French for United States could explain the apparent contradiction?

  10. Oxfordmark says:
    6th November 2008 at 4:22 pm

    Sorry, I hadn’t read the comments already posted!

  11. Fernando de Oliveira Cláudio (Brazil) says:
    15th December 2008 at 1:15 am

    I know…here is the answer… 50% is EU and 50% is USA
    hauauahuahaahauhauauhauhuaahuahahauaaauahaua

  12. Rodica Stecz says:
    24th March 2009 at 5:10 pm

    Both countries are OK but where can I find the onion and where the…PEARLS! Shall I go to the USA? or to the EU?

  13. Linda K (Hollywood) says:
    22nd April 2009 at 7:42 am

    I think a bag of pearl onions not come from both
    countries is come from made in Thailand and use
    the product name from both countries.100%sure.
    I know it’s because I’m from Bangkok.

    Hu la la la

    Linda k

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