Small or Smaller

Objects are smaller than they appear. 

Americans are infamous for their huge serving sizes for everything from food to sodas to candy bars. When I lived in the US, I was in the habit of always ordering “small” drinks, since I knew that “small” really meant medium, medium meant large, and large meant gargantuan.

Here in Quebec, it varies a lot from location to location, with some restaurants being known for larger sizes (like Rockaberry’s famous pie slices, which might as well be an entire pie because they can feed multiple people). That being said, here I more often encounter the opposite, with sizes being smaller and more reasonable.

The first time I took my daughter to get ice cream at her favorite local place, the server asked me which size we wanted and took me through the choices: large, regular, small, and mini. I burst out laughing, because the mini was so absurdly small, I didn’t even know how they could fit any ice cream in it.

I asked the server who ever bought the mini and if it was meant for babies. He stiffly replied with a straight face, “Many people get the mini, even adults.” He then proceed to say, “Small is a good size for children.”

I guiltily proceeded to order my daughter a “regulier” (regular). In my defense, it was about the same size as an American small.