When do say Chop , Cut and Snip

[hotspicy]

When do say Chop , Cut and Snip
eg Cut this vegetable or Chop this vegetable( I mean into small pieces)

2) Please snip off this packet.(I am just cut the edage of the packet..so can i use the word snip).

 

[Ouisch]

To "chop" requires a major physical motion that originates at the elbow. Think of someone using a cleaver to cut up carrots or other vegetables. "Cut" refers to a lesser physical motion - it originates the wrist and refers to a motion made with a knife or razor blade or similar sharp device (even the edge of a sheet of paper). "Snip" is a small cut; for example, if you want to open a sealed package of drink mix, you'd "snip" the corner.

However, in your example the phrasing isn't quite right - we wouldn't say "snip off the packet." It would be more common to say "Can you please snip this open for me?"

 

[hotspicy]

To "chop" requires a major physical motion that originates at the elbow. Think of someone using a cleaver to cut up carrots or other vegetables. "Cut" refers to a lesser physical motion - it originates the wrist and refers to a motion made with a knife or razor blade or similar sharp device (even the edge of a sheet of paper). "Snip" is a small cut; for example, if you want to open a sealed package of drink mix, you'd "snip" the corner.

However, in your example the phrasing isn't quite right - we wouldn't say "snip off the packet." It would be more common to say "Can you please snip this open for me?"

So can I say,Please chop the chicken..we use more force to chop chicken or Please cut the chicken is better
2) Can i just say Please snip this packet or it has to be Please snip this open

 

[BobK]

You can chop chicken, dice it (=cut it into cubes), cut it into pieces ... I don't think you'd snip it though.

As to 2, we'd (Br.Eng) say 'snip this open', not just 'snip it'.

b

 

[emsr2d2]

Personally, what I would do to vegetables would really depend on what I want the final outcome (size, shape, etc) to be, not whether or not I was moving my arm from the elbow.

Slice a carrot = result is small whole discs of carrot
Dice an onion = result is small squares of onion
Chop a potato = result is medium-sized blocks of potato

However, if I wasn't specifying the different vegetables, I would simply say to someone "I'm just going to chop the vegetables for dinner".