A weird war of words has erupted between US and UK TikTok fans after British food fans were forced to defend our version of the much-loved cuisine.
Even more bizarrely, Americans have been losing it over the fact we call it 'a Chinese' as they struggle to get their head around, well, our proper use of the English language.
The spat has seen a slew of videos with US TikTokers taking to the site to slam the Chinese dishes they see from the UK on our feeds.
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One creator, Soogia even went as far as to suggest the use of "a Chinese" could be construed as racist in a light-hearted clip (which has been viewed over 2.5 million times), even though she added that she knows it's not intended to be, before stating her confusion at our love of dishes like chicken balls, salt and chilli chips, and curry sauce.
Soogia ended her video adding: "If they love it fine, I just know there’s such a beautiful world of Chinese food out there."
However, Edinburgh-based TikToker Hayley Phillips (@Hays4Days) who moved to the capital from the US in 2012 and is now very much a proud Scot, took to the site with her own videos offering a voice of reason.
The social media star, who shares her daily life in Scotland on her Instagram @hays4days and TikTok account and has previously tackled everything from her love of Scotch Pies to her favourite Scottish insults, joined the ranks of people in the UK explaining that Chinese takeaways in the UK are an affectionate take on the original regional dishes as well as fusions with traditional British staples and very different from what you'd get in a restaurant.
First off she tackled the naming problem, explaining to her American followers that in both the US and UK we are "shortening a longer phrase" but in the US they leave out the words "takeout" or "food" which are mass nouns hence the correct lack of need to put an "a" in front of it. However, in the UK, Hayley explained that we leave out "takeaway" which is a count noun, meaning the use of "a" beforehand is right in this instance.
Addressing the differences in the cuisine too, such as the offer of chips as a side dish and the overuse of curry sauce, Hayley explained in a second video that chips can go with pretty much anything in the UK and that chips get served with Takeaways of pretty much any cuisine, with each doing their own twist.
She added: "And one of the best parts of British Chinese food is salt and chilli chips, and the ones I get are usually seasoned with salt, MSG, some kind of spice, such as Chinese five spice, and then they get tossed with fried peppers and onions, and you have it with this specifically Chinese-style curry sauce. It's delicious."
We agree Hayley, we agree.
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