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 Rank: Member
Joined: 10/25/2018 Posts: 602 Neurons: 2,103
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When I was 16, I could only cook soup from a tin.
What does from a tin mean?
Advice and classroom hints are one thing, grammar rules are another. Michael Lewis (1986)
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/19/2011 Posts: 10,353 Neurons: 53,577
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Atatürk wrote:When I was 16, I could only cook soup from a tin.
What does from a tin mean? I believe this is British English for what we in America would call a "can".
Edit: adding to what thar wrote, when I was growing up, we called them "tin cans". The British kept the "tin" part, and we Americans kept the "can" part.

We should look to the past to learn from it, not destroy our future because of it — FounDit
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 7/8/2010 Posts: 18,683 Neurons: 75,674
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Steel cans used to have a thin layer of tin which is very unreactive, good for preserving food. Now they are often chromium plated or aluminium, but they are still called tins, and soup from a tin is tinned soup.
If you can only cook soup from a tin, it means you don't "cook" at all - you just heat it up.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 6/30/2014 Posts: 358 Neurons: 11,181 Location: Rochester, New York, United States
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In the U.S., we'd say "can" instead of "tin." In the U.S., "tin" has a connotation of a reusable metal container with a lid, often a decorative or collectible item.
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