[quote=“Lo Bo To”]I have heard English friends of mine use it as “An ice cream” before.
I have heard other examples of things I thought needed a quantifier but in England English there isn’t any. Can’t remember the examples off hand.[/quote]
That would be in a sentence like this:
“Would you like to have an ice cream cone.”
but not in a sentence like this:
“Would you like to have an Ice Cream”
In the second example you might unwittingly be agreeing to have your nipples pinched.
All nouns are countable (?)
The sands of time.
Still waters run deep.
Putting on airs.
The best of times.
What sort of experiences did the group members have when they were tripping?
They’re a pair of beauties all right!
Really? In American English “ice cream” is uncountable? Didn’t know that. Oh well. You can have multiple ice creams in British English…
[quote=“hexuan”]All nouns are countable (?)
The sands of time.
Still waters run deep.
Putting on airs.
The best of times.
What sort of experiences did the group members have when they were tripping?
They’re a pair of beauties all right![/quote]
I can think of at least three nouns that are never countable (at least in my experience):
furniture
equipment
luggage
[quote=“Chris”]
I can think of at least three nouns that are never countable (at least in my experience):
furniture
equipment
luggage[/quote]
They, Them, and those little shits over there.
[quote=“Chris”]I can think of at least three nouns that are never countable (at least in my experience):
furniture
equipment
luggage[/quote]
Yes. I couldn’t think of any last night (!) There must be more I’m sure…
As someone pointed out earlier, the sentences in the OP’s post are inappropriate.
What really compounds the problem is calling the ice cream by a color. “An ice cream” refers to the entire serving, including the container or a type. So, “a red ice cream” would either refer to a red cone with red ice cream, or one of the flavors of ice cream like strawberry, cherry, watermelon, or some other red color.
Young students encountering this will be sent some very confusing signals.
Some more truly uncountable nouns: information and lumber. Homework also seems to be another one.
Shouldn’t it really be a cone/s of ice cream instead of ice cream cone? I’ve eaten the cones without ice cream.
If I hear “cones of ice cream” I think of “pyramids of ice cream” and “spheres of ice cream” type of ice cream configuration. Certainly delicious, but not what you’d be expecting.
I think that’s why we generally say “ice cream cones” or “ice creams” to refer to the ice cream and the cones (or at least I do).
You gotta love ambiguity.
I find it slightly amusing that you’ve just spent three pages discussing the countability of ice-cream
In the UK, we have an ice cream, meaning ‘in a cone’, or just ice cream, meaning ‘in a bowl’ or the suchlike. From an ice-cream vendor you’d buy an ice cream, and in a restaurant, ice cream.
In the States it’s different; you eat so much of the damned stuff! Maybe Americans just don’t like to keep count of how much they’re eating. 
I had ice cream this afternoon = (in truth) ‘I had five ice cream cones and two gallons of Ben and Jerry’s Funky Monkey. Now go get me a supersize soda to wash that shit down!’