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Different words for the same things depending on which country you're in.

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  • Posts: 30,886 Member
    Great thread, Christine!

    Will mostly catch up later, but in case someone hasn't already posted this:
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Canada - US

    pop - soda

    It's pop in many parts of the US too, such as the midwest. I picked up soda when at college in MA, but reverted to pop after and now use them interchangeably.
  • Posts: 9,520 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »

    I get it. I misinterpreted your previous post.

    So up the girls interpreted the saying as siting on their kitty staring at their rack.

    Rack?? Is that one Australian, American, or British??
  • Posts: 9,520 Member

    I got some interesting looks when I lived in the UK and told some friends I was wearing pants and thongs to a party (instead of trousers and flip flops...)

    does the US have toasted sandwiches? or are they called grilled cheese?
    we have toasted sandwiches (pressed) or jaffles (squished together in a machine that seals the edges and holds the filling in)

    "Thongs" or "Flip-flops" I call slippers. Definitely won't use the word "thongs" in that way.
  • Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited December 2016
    TonyB0588 wrote: »

    Toilet and bathroom both work for me, but what about latrine or lavatory?

    Or water closet?

    How about outhouse? Dunny? Loo?
  • Posts: 9,520 Member

    Both, for me, it's more a register variation, than a regional one. My nephews may talk about rubbers. But their teachers talk about condoms.

    A rubber was always an eraser when I was at school.
  • Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited December 2016
    TonyB0588 wrote: »

    A rubber was always an eraser when I was at school.

    Same here. Wouldn't dare ask to borrow one now, though. ;)

    Hey @Christine_72 Remember our previous rubber chat? :laugh:
  • Posts: 11,750 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »

    Rack?? Is that one Australian, American, or British??

    definitely a term used in Australia...don't know about the others
  • Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited December 2016
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Great thread, Christine!

    Will mostly catch up later, but in case someone hasn't already posted this:

    It's pop in many parts of the US too, such as the midwest. I picked up soda when at college in MA, but reverted to pop after and now use them interchangeably.

    My wife is from Michigan - they drank pop. I grew up in southern California - we drank soda. My dad grew up in the south - they drank coke (they refer to any soda/pop drink as a "coke") - or sometimes he'd call it "sodee pop".
  • Posts: 16,049 Member

    Same here. Wouldn't dare ask to borrow one now, though. ;)

    Hey @Christine_72 Remember our previous rubber chat? :laugh:

    Yes, yes I do :lol: Wasn't it something about borrowing someones used rubber, or some such?

    Or water closet?

    How about outhouse? Dunny? Loo?

    I always call it the loo
  • Posts: 5,468 Member

    Yes, yes I do :lol: Wasn't it something about borrowing someones used rubber, or some such?
    Indeed it was. It was great!
  • Posts: 16,049 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »

    they drank coke (they refer to any soda/pop drink as a "coke") .

    That one has always confounded me, what if they want sprite or mountain dew, something other than coke? Here you say specifically what you want, if you say you want a soft drink/soda then you get what you're given!

  • Posts: 9,520 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »

    My wife is from Michigan - they drank pop. I grew up in southern California - we drank soda. My dad grew up in the south - they drank coke (they refer to any soda/pop drink as a "coke") - or sometimes he'd call it "sodee pop".

    We just called them sweet drinks, and the more refined people said aerated or carbonated beverages.
  • Posts: 103 Member
    U.S./Canada
    candy bar/chocolate bar
    trash/garbage
    gutter/eavestrough
    railing/bannister
  • Posts: 15,532 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »

    Rack?? Is that one Australian, American, or British??

    Canadian slang.
  • Posts: 18,343 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »

    "Thongs" or "Flip-flops" I call slippers. Definitely won't use the word "thongs" in that way.

    I remember them being called "thongs" back in the '60s, but I've always referred to them as "flip flops". Some people call them 'sandals', but I think of sandals as something different - more of the Birkenstock-type things with multiple straps over the foot and buckles/velcro to fasten them.

    "Slippers" are the soft, fuzzy shoes I wear with my PJs or bathrobe. :)
  • Posts: 15,532 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »

    Toilet and bathroom both work for me, but what about latrine or lavatory?

    I think of the military when I hear latrine, and airplanes with lavatory.
  • Posts: 9,520 Member
    "Normal" football is called Soccer in America. American football looks more like Rugby to me, but I never got that clarified.
  • Posts: 11,750 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    "Normal" football is called Soccer in America. American football looks more like Rugby to me, but I never got that clarified.

    Australia has football (Australian rules), soccer (although there are plenty of English expats who call it football), gridiron (for American football)...
  • Posts: 225 Member
    edited December 2016
    U.S./Canada
    candy bar/chocolate bar
    trash/garbage
    gutter/eavestrough
    railing/bannister

    I'm in the US and I say chocolate bar, garbage and bannister, but not eavestrough.

    I say soda and not pop. We do have scones here as well. I live in an area that was originally settled by the Germans.

    Also, I "use the restroom".
  • Posts: 18,343 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    "Normal" football is called Soccer in America. American football looks more like Rugby to me, but I never got that clarified.

    American football bears not much more than a passing resemblance to rugby and vice-versa. They're both rough contact sports involving an oddly-shaped ball, but that's about where the similarities end. Rugby and Aussie Rules Football seem to be much more similar.

    The sport I've never been able to figure out is Cricket. Oddly fascinating, but completely alien to most Americans.
  • Posts: 2,081 Member
    edited December 2016

    I'm in the US and I say chocolate bar, garbage and bannister, but not eavestrough.

    I say soda and not pop. We do have scones here as well. I live in an area that was originally settled by the Germans.

    Also, I "use the restroom".

    I use the term restroom, too. For some reason, it drives my 14 year old crazy. So now I make sure to do it more :).
  • Posts: 1,599 Member
    Not just from country to country. I moved from North US to the Deep South last year. It took me a second when I heard "buggy", which I call a shopping cart or just "cart". Just one of many things different!
  • Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited December 2016
    Dnarules wrote: »

    I use the term restroom, too. For some reason, it drives my 14 year old crazy. So now I make sure to do it more :).

    Haha oh how i love to torment my children :lol: What does your kid call it?

  • Posts: 36,231 Member
    U.S./Canada
    candy bar/chocolate bar
    trash/garbage
    gutter/eavestrough
    railing/bannister

    Gutter is usually the area next to the curb where storm water runs to the storm drains, though it can be a synonym for eavestrough. Evestrough is the more common term for the things on the eaves of a house that convey rainwater to the ground.

    Trash and garbage are synonyms. So are railing (or rail) and bannister. (Though as the child of a carpenter, I can handle a baluster/bannister distinction - not common terminology, though.)

    Candy bars and chocolate bars overlap. All chocolate bars are candy bars, but not all candy bars are (entirely) chocolate.

    Again, I'm from US/Michigan, so I terms can be near-Canadian.

    I disagree about soda & pop in Michigan, though - I don't think it's hard & fast pop for everyone. I grew up drinking pop in mid-Michigan, but people from some other parts seem to lean toward soda. May have to do with migration/settlement patterns.
  • Posts: 2,081 Member

    Haha oh how i love to torment my children :lol: What does your kid call it?

    She would prefer I call it bathroom. I do call it bathroom at home, but in public I say restroom. Not entirely sure what her issue is with it.
  • Posts: 26,095 Member
    Not sure if it has already been mentioned but ...

    lollies = candies

    biscuits = cookies


    As I mentioned, I'm a Canadian who moved to Australia and I really struggle with the word "biscuits". To me "biscuits" are more like dumplings, "crackers" are hard salty things, and "cookies" are sweet. It still throws me off when someone asks if I want a "biscuit". A dumpling? Now? No! Oh wait, you mean a cookie!


    Also meals ...

    In Canada it is:

    breakfast
    brunch
    lunch
    coffee break
    dinner or supper
    and something my family called "little lunch" which was a late evening snack.

    In Australia it is:

    breakfast
    brunch/morning tea/smoko
    lunch
    arvo tea/smoko
    dinner or tea
    supper = my "little lunch" or late evening snack.
  • Posts: 11,750 Member
    Not just from country to country. I moved from North US to the Deep South last year. It took me a second when I heard "buggy", which I call a shopping cart or just "cart". Just one of many things different!

    To me, a buggy is something you drive around a golf course, or something towed by a horse.
    We use shopping trolleys in Australia
  • Posts: 4,796 Member

    Haha those 80s picture jumpers, my mum made me lots of them! We called those dresses with bib and straps 'tunics' when I was at infant school.

    I didn't see this one mentioned any further... those dress/bib affairs were called pinafores or pinafore dresses when I was a kid. Not sure if they have a different name these days! I used to know "tank tops" as the knitted sleeveless jumpers too (particularly popular in the 70s, I think!), but now I've come to associate that phrase with the sort of sleeveless t-shirt one might wear to the gym. Not that I've ever set foot in a gym, but that's what I think of when someone mentions a tank top!

    (Brit living in Canada here, many new terms had to be learned when we moved! I made sure my son knew to ask for "an eraser" at school if he made a mistake, and that my brother, a smoker, knew to NOT use his regular term for cigarettes when he visited us...)
  • Posts: 16,049 Member
    I used Fa*s in my previous post and it *kittened* it out :flushed:
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