Different words for the same things depending on which country you're in.
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williams969 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »We use the F word for cigarettes too. And we have a very popular brand of cheese who's name people find very racist, its C**n. I actually had an American friend ask me about it when she saw it in my diary
@williams969 yes, we call them benchtops. Do you guys use the word pantry for the kitchen food cupboard?
It's a pantry if it's a floor to ceiling cupboard. If it's just top cabinets (above the counter/bench, then it's just called the cupboard/cabinet). But, pantries are not that common in the US, at least i the homes/apartments I've been in.
Oh, another one: apartments/condo in the US = flats in the UK.
On the east coast, we have a room with a sink & cupboards we call a "wet pantry."
Also, I would call a "flat" an apartment in a city that is above a storefront. (US)0 -
Saw a reference to Master Bathroom earlier. My wife is British and calls it En Suite. Seems a french word for the two rooms together - bedroom and bathroom.
Of course one must be very careful about bath and shower. I've almost always taken my baths in a shower. British folk seem to take a "bath" lying or sitting in a bath(tub) and a "shower" standing in a shower enclosure.0 -
Saw a reference to Master Bathroom earlier. My wife is British and calls it En Suite. Seems a french word for the two rooms together - bedroom and bathroom.
Of course one must be very careful about bath and shower. I've almost always taken my baths in a shower. British folk seem to take a "bath" lying or sitting in a bath(tub) and a "shower" standing in a shower enclosure.
Yeah I call a bathroom that is kinda joined to a bedroom an ensuite. Don't most Brits have the shower nozzle in the actual bath? You don't have a separate shower and bath?
One thing i can't stand is when the toilet is in the bathroom, I lived in a unit that had that , drove me nuts!0 -
How about Canadian/American
pencil crayons/coloured pencils
washroom/bathroom
brown toast/whole wheat toast
two-four/24-pack of beer0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Saw a reference to Master Bathroom earlier. My wife is British and calls it En Suite. Seems a french word for the two rooms together - bedroom and bathroom.
Of course one must be very careful about bath and shower. I've almost always taken my baths in a shower. British folk seem to take a "bath" lying or sitting in a bath(tub) and a "shower" standing in a shower enclosure.
Yeah I call a bathroom that is kinda joined to a bedroom an ensuite. Don't most Brits have the shower nozzle in the actual bath? You don't have a separate shower and bath?
One thing i can't stand is when the toilet is in the bathroom, I lived in a unit that had that , drove me nuts!
Things are gradually changing. My first visit to Britain was nearly 29 years ago and there was no provision for a shower. Just lie there in that disgusting bathtub full of water. On subsequent visits, I saw shower nozzles being installed.
All my life I've lived in houses where the Master Bathroom had a tub but also equipped with a shower nozzle, and the other bathroom(s) in the house had only a shower instead of a tub.
And yes, for me the toilet has generally been in the bathroom. I've been to a few houses where the toilet was separate, but the sink to wash your hands was in the bathroom!!0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Saw a reference to Master Bathroom earlier. My wife is British and calls it En Suite. Seems a french word for the two rooms together - bedroom and bathroom.
Of course one must be very careful about bath and shower. I've almost always taken my baths in a shower. British folk seem to take a "bath" lying or sitting in a bath(tub) and a "shower" standing in a shower enclosure.
Yeah I call a bathroom that is kinda joined to a bedroom an ensuite. Don't most Brits have the shower nozzle in the actual bath? You don't have a separate shower and bath?
One thing i can't stand is when the toilet is in the bathroom, I lived in a unit that had that , drove me nuts!
Things are gradually changing. My first visit to Britain was nearly 29 years ago and there was no provision for a shower. Just lie there in that disgusting bathtub full of water. On subsequent visits, I saw shower nozzles being installed.
All my life I've lived in houses where the Master Bathroom had a tub but also equipped with a shower nozzle, and the other bathroom(s) in the house had only a shower instead of a tub.
And yes, for me the toilet has generally been in the bathroom. I've been to a few houses where the toilet was separate, but the sink to wash your hands was in the bathroom!!
Yep, it's the same here. The sink is in the bathroom and separate toilet.
Just an FYI for those of you who have the toilet/bathroom and toothbrushes in the same room. Make sure and have a secure airtight cover on your toothbrushes! I saw a show where they tested the toothbrush surface, and lets just say they may as well have cleaned their toilet with their toothbrushes
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And here I'd love to be able to renovate our house (but we're renting so I can't) ...
I'd get rid of the separate shower and install one over the bath, then I'd put the toilet into the bathroom where the shower currently is because to me, having the toilet in a separate room is just a silly waste of space. The toilet belongs in the bathroom.
Then I'd move the laundry room over so it occupies the current toilet room, and I'd put in an enormous closet in where the laundry room currently is, attached to the bedroom at the end, because this business of having teensy closets, or no closets, in a house is really odd.
As for the toothbrush, it would go into the mirrored bathroom cabinet where it belongs ... if we had a mirrored bathroom cabinet. Those things don't appear to be very popular here either.
Oh, and I'd add lights above the mirror ... another thing which doesn't appear to be very popular here.
I grew up, in Canada, with quite a different bedroom/bathroom layout than what we've experienced in the places we've lived here in Australia.
Oh, basements are another thing ... I don't understand why so many Australian houses don't have basements.0 -
Oh, basements are another thing ... I don't understand why so many Australian houses don't have basements.
Could it be for the same reasons that basements are uncommon in some regions of the US? These are usually either rock or caliche making it hard/expensive to excavate, or the water table being so high that everyone would have an automatic basement wading pool.1 -
Oh, basements are another thing ... I don't understand why so many Australian houses don't have basements.
Could it be for the same reasons that basements are uncommon in some regions of the US? These are usually either rock or caliche making it hard/expensive to excavate, or the water table being so high that everyone would have an automatic basement wading pool.
Yeah, I think its got a lot to do with the soil around a lot of Australia. Remember that the vast, vast majority of Australians live very close to the coast, so our soil tends to be sandy, or clay. I don't know that either are any good for basements?0 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »
Oh, basements are another thing ... I don't understand why so many Australian houses don't have basements.
Could it be for the same reasons that basements are uncommon in some regions of the US? These are usually either rock or caliche making it hard/expensive to excavate, or the water table being so high that everyone would have an automatic basement wading pool.
Yeah, I think its got a lot to do with the soil around a lot of Australia. Remember that the vast, vast majority of Australians live very close to the coast, so our soil tends to be sandy, or clay. I don't know that either are any good for basements?
Yup, most houses in my part of Western Australia (pretty much all the new ones as far as I'm aware) are built on top of a concrete pad, which kind of works like a raft floating on top of the sand, there are no foundation posts that go down into the ground, so adding a basement would be a fairly labour intensive and expensive addition. The water table sounds like it would be a factor here too.
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pebble4321 wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »
Oh, basements are another thing ... I don't understand why so many Australian houses don't have basements.
Could it be for the same reasons that basements are uncommon in some regions of the US? These are usually either rock or caliche making it hard/expensive to excavate, or the water table being so high that everyone would have an automatic basement wading pool.
Yeah, I think its got a lot to do with the soil around a lot of Australia. Remember that the vast, vast majority of Australians live very close to the coast, so our soil tends to be sandy, or clay. I don't know that either are any good for basements?
Yup, most houses in my part of Western Australia (pretty much all the new ones as far as I'm aware) are built on top of a concrete pad, which kind of works like a raft floating on top of the sand, there are no foundation posts that go down into the ground, so adding a basement would be a fairly labour intensive and expensive addition. The water table sounds like it would be a factor here too.
Our house is in a new(ish) estate, and built on top of what was a swamp a long time ago.... We'd have a murky underground swimming pool if we had a basement, the water level us still quite high.
A lot of the older houses are built raised slightly above ground to enable air to circulate underneath (like the Queenslanders)0 -
I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
We didn't have a basement when we lived in Victoria, but we do now that we live in Tasmania.
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Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
I do have my basement rented out, so there is some truth to that! :laugh:2 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
We didn't have a basement when we lived in Victoria, but we do now that we live in Tasmania.
Victoria is built on a big rock. Most houses on the prairies have basements... unless you go too far north into the permafrost. 0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
We didn't have a basement when we lived in Victoria, but we do now that we live in Tasmania.
That makes sense. There's some creepy happenings in dem der hills down there
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Ironically, Oklahoma is notorious for tornados due to it being mostly flat while there are also hardly any basements in the state because the water table is too high...due to it being mostly flat.
As for the toilet being in the bathroom, it just makes sense. You need the sink there to wash your hands, it's already a private space and it's logical to centrally locate all the plumbing.
There is a trend with newer/nicer homes these days of having a "closet" of sorts for the toilet within the bathroom (I assume so that John can use the john without fumigating Martha while she showers).
And yes, if you are standing up with water pouring into you, you are taking a shower and not a bath. Taking a bath involves sitting/laying in standing water. Most bathrooms here have bathtubs with shower heads installed. A separate shower is mostly only used when space is at a premium or when it's a really nice bathroom complete with a whirlpool/garden tub (and perhaps a toilet closet).1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
Plenty of Australian houses have lofts though, which I consider the same thing. Many not liveable, but I think loft conversions are becoming more popular...0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
We didn't have a basement when we lived in Victoria, but we do now that we live in Tasmania.
Victoria is built on a big rock. Most houses on the prairies have basements... unless you go too far north into the permafrost.
The State of Victoria ... Australia.
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Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
We didn't have a basement when we lived in Victoria, but we do now that we live in Tasmania.
That makes sense. There's some creepy happenings in dem der hills down there
Actually it is because of the hills that we've got a basement. We live on a 14% grade basement so to make the house level they had to put something like a basement underneath.
Meanwhile where we were in Victoria it was relatively flat.0 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Ironically, Oklahoma is notorious for tornados due to it being mostly flat while there are also hardly any basements in the state because the water table is too high...due to it being mostly flat.
As for the toilet being in the bathroom, it just makes sense. You need the sink there to wash your hands, it's already a private space and it's logical to centrally locate all the plumbing.
There is a trend with newer/nicer homes these days of having a "closet" of sorts for the toilet within the bathroom (I assume so that John can use the john without fumigating Martha while she showers).
And yes, if you are standing up with water pouring into you, you are taking a shower and not a bath. Taking a bath involves sitting/laying in standing water. Most bathrooms here have bathtubs with shower heads installed. A separate shower is mostly only used when space is at a premium or when it's a really nice bathroom complete with a whirlpool/garden tub (and perhaps a toilet closet).
Yes!!
The thing I really do not like about our separate toilet is that when I finish my business, I've got to go into another room to wash my hands. It might not really matter that much, but I was brought up to wash my hands immediately upon finishing and not to go wandering about the house first.
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Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
We didn't have a basement when we lived in Victoria, but we do now that we live in Tasmania.
Victoria is built on a big rock. Most houses on the prairies have basements... unless you go too far north into the permafrost.
The State of Victoria ... Australia.
Oops! I was thinking Victoria, BC, Canada0 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »CurlyCockney wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »Oh my. I was working internationally and we were having a similar conversation about different word meanings. The looks on the girls faces when I used the phrase "sitting on your fanny watching the boob tube." It was all kinds of fun!
LOL Thank you Wikipedia, for explaining that Americans call boob tubes 'tube tops'
Actually, we used the term boob tube to refer to televisions.
As an austalian I also know a boob tube as a stretchy top with no straps and it is only recently with the American TV shows that Sandshoes are now known as Sneakers or Runners
Then there is
footpath - sidewalk
Lift- elevator
And most Australians know the toilet as the Loo, the Bog, little boys/girls room LOL1 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Ironically, Oklahoma is notorious for tornados due to it being mostly flat while there are also hardly any basements in the state because the water table is too high...due to it being mostly flat.
As for the toilet being in the bathroom, it just makes sense. You need the sink there to wash your hands, it's already a private space and it's logical to centrally locate all the plumbing.
There is a trend with newer/nicer homes these days of having a "closet" of sorts for the toilet within the bathroom (I assume so that John can use the john without fumigating Martha while she showers).
And yes, if you are standing up with water pouring into you, you are taking a shower and not a bath. Taking a bath involves sitting/laying in standing water. Most bathrooms here have bathtubs with shower heads installed. A separate shower is mostly only used when space is at a premium or when it's a really nice bathroom complete with a whirlpool/garden tub (and perhaps a toilet closet).
Ooh, I must have a nice home.... we have a toilet with a separate door that opens out of the ensuite (master) bathroom. But we also have a stand alone toilet (not a "half bath, just a tiny room with the toilet in there) in the hall and then we walk a few steps to the other bathroom to wash our hands.
I've learnt lots about US words for bathrooms watching US house hunters shows - I didn't know what half bath (toilet and handbasin) three quarter bath (toilet, handbasin, shower but no bath), full bath (all the stuff including a bath) were but now I'm much more educated! Oh, and I know a soaking tub from a jetted tub. I think we would call them a bath vs a spa.
I've also learnt that apparently the things that everyone desires in a house in the US are open concept living room/kitchen, hardwood floors, granite countertops and double basins in the master bath. Unless you want a tiny home but even then people still want baths half the time.1 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
Plenty of Australian houses have lofts though, which I consider the same thing. Many not liveable, but I think loft conversions are becoming more popular...
Loft is an English term Australians mostly just call it the Roof space or cavity0 -
stationlouisa wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I've seen way too many American horror movies, and if there's anything demonic or creepy happening, it'll be down in the basement!
I've never seen a house here that has one, or an Attic, which seems to be popular in American houses.
Plenty of Australian houses have lofts though, which I consider the same thing. Many not liveable, but I think loft conversions are becoming more popular...
Loft is an English term Australians mostly just call it the Roof space or cavity
Perhaps it's a regional thing - I'm in WA I know plenty of people who call it a loft, and many building companies that build in WA advertise lofts/loft houses0 -
pebble4321 wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Ironically, Oklahoma is notorious for tornados due to it being mostly flat while there are also hardly any basements in the state because the water table is too high...due to it being mostly flat.
As for the toilet being in the bathroom, it just makes sense. You need the sink there to wash your hands, it's already a private space and it's logical to centrally locate all the plumbing.
There is a trend with newer/nicer homes these days of having a "closet" of sorts for the toilet within the bathroom (I assume so that John can use the john without fumigating Martha while she showers).
And yes, if you are standing up with water pouring into you, you are taking a shower and not a bath. Taking a bath involves sitting/laying in standing water. Most bathrooms here have bathtubs with shower heads installed. A separate shower is mostly only used when space is at a premium or when it's a really nice bathroom complete with a whirlpool/garden tub (and perhaps a toilet closet).
Ooh, I must have a nice home.... we have a toilet with a separate door that opens out of the ensuite (master) bathroom. But we also have a stand alone toilet (not a "half bath, just a tiny room with the toilet in there) in the hall and then we walk a few steps to the other bathroom to wash our hands.
I've learnt lots about US words for bathrooms watching US house hunters shows - I didn't know what half bath (toilet and handbasin) three quarter bath (toilet, handbasin, shower but no bath), full bath (all the stuff including a bath) were but now I'm much more educated! Oh, and I know a soaking tub from a jetted tub. I think we would call them a bath vs a spa.
I've also learnt that apparently the things that everyone desires in a house in the US are open concept living room/kitchen, hardwood floors, granite countertops and double basins in the master bath. Unless you want a tiny home but even then people still want baths half the time.
We must have a nice home too.... Our ensuite has a toilet with a door. Our other toilet is right next to the main bathroom aswell.
What do other places call the outback/bush? As in, desert areas, or areas that aren't forested, just heavily shrubbed? If you live in those areas here, youre living "in the bush" or "Out bush". We do have some forests/rainforests, but lots of "bush"0 -
Actually, there have been some similar experiments where they tested toothbrushes or other surfaces rooms away and got same result.Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »Saw a reference to Master Bathroom earlier. My wife is British and calls it En Suite. Seems a french word for the two rooms together - bedroom and bathroom.
Of course one must be very careful about bath and shower. I've almost always taken my baths in a shower. British folk seem to take a "bath" lying or sitting in a bath(tub) and a "shower" standing in a shower enclosure.
Yeah I call a bathroom that is kinda joined to a bedroom an ensuite. Don't most Brits have the shower nozzle in the actual bath? You don't have a separate shower and bath?
One thing i can't stand is when the toilet is in the bathroom, I lived in a unit that had that , drove me nuts!
Things are gradually changing. My first visit to Britain was nearly 29 years ago and there was no provision for a shower. Just lie there in that disgusting bathtub full of water. On subsequent visits, I saw shower nozzles being installed.
All my life I've lived in houses where the Master Bathroom had a tub but also equipped with a shower nozzle, and the other bathroom(s) in the house had only a shower instead of a tub.
And yes, for me the toilet has generally been in the bathroom. I've been to a few houses where the toilet was separate, but the sink to wash your hands was in the bathroom!!
Yep, it's the same here. The sink is in the bathroom and separate toilet.
Just an FYI for those of you who have the toilet/bathroom and toothbrushes in the same room. Make sure and have a secure airtight cover on your toothbrushes! I saw a show where they tested the toothbrush surface, and lets just say they may as well have cleaned their toilet with their toothbrushes
It isn't the toothbrush and toilet in the bathroom problem - it is the reality of minuscule faecal particles being part of life.
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In California, when we hear "in the bush" we immediately think of Australia. I think we would just call it the desert or chaparral. Chaparral is what you see in a lot of old western movies.1
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Desert (mostly sand), wilderness, grassland (low shrubs etc.)
I also associate the term "in the bush" to Austrailia0
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