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

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Replies

  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Haha love this thread! So bum is called fanny in America ?? Haha sorry I'm confused !! In U.K. Spite is a brand of lemonade with lime


    I use the term bum or butt. But my kids will laugh hysterically if I use the work "fanny" in front of them.
    A bum is someone who won't work. Only used for "butt" when being silly of deliberately polite.
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Dnarules wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Cool that you started this:

    Canada - US

    pop - soda
    burger - dinner plate
    poutine - "who the *kitten* puts cheese curds on fries???"
    double-double (coffee with double sugar, double cream)
    Timmy's - Dunkin' Doughnuts

    Canada - Australia

    fifty-fifty (10% cream)


    I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree more with this list...

    I live in the US and everyone here uses the term "Pop" for soft drinks. If someone says "Soda" they are usually read the riot act lol. Also, who calls a burger a "Dinner plate"? I have never heard that term!

    Personally I'm a Large black coffee kinda guy, but, every morning my wife gets a Double Double when we go to Tim Hortons. There is 1 Dunkin' near me (not close enough to walk to) and 5 Timmys within a bike ride to my house.

    We also have a poutine restaurant downtown that is extremely popular.





    Am I living in some kind of weird Canadian version of the US and nobody told me? :o

    Nope, I am in NC (from FL) and I do not use the term pop ever. I say soda, or use the word coke in a general way.


    I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".

    It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".
    Touché...but...still no...

    With the exception of puffs, Kleenex is the only known brand name of facial tissue and I don't think there is another name brand name for bandages other than bandaid.

    With contenders like Pepsi, Dr Pepper, 7up, mt dew, etc., it's more like calling all motor vehicles "Fords" even if they're actually Chevys and Chryslers.
    SueSueDio wrote: »
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".

    It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".

    Or calling all vacuum cleaners "Hoovers". I don't vacuum, I do the hoovering... even though mine is a Shark not a Hoover!

    I didn't even know hoovering was a word except for the one time I heard it used as a euphemism for scarfing down food...

    Sorbent.... And Elastoplast. A bandage to me is a long white thing you wrap around whatever body part is wounded/sprained. I'd call the thing you stick on a cut a "sticky plaster" if I didn't say bandaid.

    I've never heard of sorbent or elastoplast.
    Plaster to me is a building material/cast material.

    I'd guess Elastoplast would be pretty well understood to be the same thing as a bandaid here (Australia), though bandaid would be the most common term that I hear.

    Kleenex isn't commonly used, most people I know would use tissue instead. Sorbent the brand is pretty well known I think but I'd think of toilet paper first before facial tissues.

    Kleenex and Hoover as generic terms come across to me as UK terminology. I expect that most people who grew up in Aus would say tissue and vacuum (though there are lots of Brits here so that can vary) .... but would use bandaid as a generic term.

    You would never hear coke as a generic term here - if someone offered me a coke, I expect it would be a Coke branded drink and nothing else. A general offer would be "would you like a soft drink?" Though I can't see that being used much either, not in my life anyway - someone would more likely say "would you like a drink" then go on to give some suggestions like "beer, wine, something soft... juice, lemonade or a coffee/tea" etc.

    I love this language stuff, it's fascinating! I have pretty frequent discussions about terminology and location based dialect at work as it relates to Auslan (Australian Sign Language) which has it's own dialects.... I often pick up signs that are different to the ones I know... even common (and important!) stuff like wine and coffee and chocolate has different signs depending on where you are. And that's a whole different language to ASL (American sign language), I don't get much of that at all, especially the finger spelling.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,707 Member
    edited January 2017
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Dnarules wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Cool that you started this:

    Canada - US

    pop - soda
    burger - dinner plate
    poutine - "who the *kitten* puts cheese curds on fries???"
    double-double (coffee with double sugar, double cream)
    Timmy's - Dunkin' Doughnuts

    Canada - Australia

    fifty-fifty (10% cream)


    I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree more with this list...

    I live in the US and everyone here uses the term "Pop" for soft drinks. If someone says "Soda" they are usually read the riot act lol. Also, who calls a burger a "Dinner plate"? I have never heard that term!

    Personally I'm a Large black coffee kinda guy, but, every morning my wife gets a Double Double when we go to Tim Hortons. There is 1 Dunkin' near me (not close enough to walk to) and 5 Timmys within a bike ride to my house.

    We also have a poutine restaurant downtown that is extremely popular.





    Am I living in some kind of weird Canadian version of the US and nobody told me? :o

    Nope, I am in NC (from FL) and I do not use the term pop ever. I say soda, or use the word coke in a general way.


    I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".

    I grew up drinking coke. Sometimes it was root beer, orange, grape or 7-up. All coke!


    Even Pepsi and RC Cola are "Coke"??

    You would call a Pepsi a Pepsi, but you might say "does any want a coke?" Even if you only had Pepsi and Sprite to offer them. Or you might go out to get a Coke (like you out for coffee)and no one orders coke everyone gets a different flavors.

    I'll do this in restaurants here in Australia ... "I'd like a diet coke".

    I don't care if it is Pepsi or Coke or some generic brand, and in fact, if all they had was a diet ginger ale, I'd take that.

    But as soon as I say "I'd like a diet coke", they get a very concerned look on their faces and I get ... "Ohhhh ... um ... I'm really sorry, we don't have diet Coke. We only have diet Pepsi."


    Oh good ... so you do have what I asked for then. :grin:



  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,707 Member
    edited January 2017
    I don't know what poutine is, but every time i see that word i think of a bum, or butt/fanny depending where you're from :lol:

    Hot chips with cheese curds and gravy.

    Guaranteed to pile on 5 lbs just looking at it. :grin:

    I don't know what poutine is, but every time i see that word i think of a bum, or butt/fanny depending where you're from :lol:

    Chips, with cheese curds and a gravy on top. It's a Canadian dish...we had some piping hot and fresh, so good (but bad at the same time) . Ive seen some poor replications in aus using cheddar cheese.

    Oh yes ... I've seen the cheddar cheese thing too. That's just not right.

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,707 Member

    I don't know what poutine is, but every time i see that word i think of a bum, or butt/fanny depending where you're from :lol:

    Chips, with cheese curds and a gravy on top. It's a Canadian dish...we had some piping hot and fresh, so good (but bad at the same time) . Ive seen some poor replications in aus using cheddar cheese.

    Chips as in French Fries for those in the US/Canada lol




    In the US, chips come in a bag and are flavored with BBQ, Salt and Vinegar or Cheddar and Sour Cream. What is a "Fish n Chip Shop"? I assume that's a restaurant that specializes in making a fish fry that is sitting on top of french fries?

    You're in the Great Lakes area and you don't know what a fish and chips shop is?

    Battered fish on top of or beside hot chips!
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    I don't know what poutine is, but every time i see that word i think of a bum, or butt/fanny depending where you're from :lol:

    Chips, with cheese curds and a gravy on top. It's a Canadian dish...we had some piping hot and fresh, so good (but bad at the same time) . Ive seen some poor replications in aus using cheddar cheese.

    Chips as in French Fries for those in the US/Canada lol




    In the US, chips come in a bag and are flavored with BBQ, Salt and Vinegar or Cheddar and Sour Cream. What is a "Fish n Chip Shop"? I assume that's a restaurant that specializes in making a fish fry that is sitting on top of french fries?

    In Australia - same as in Britain - a small non-chain fast food place which sells mainly (cooked) fish and chips. Usually they have a few other cooked things like hamburgers for sale too, and drinks and ice creams.

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,707 Member
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png

  • Beka3695
    Beka3695 Posts: 4,126 Member
    @KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi :p

    Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.


    I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I don't know what poutine is, but every time i see that word i think of a bum, or butt/fanny depending where you're from :lol:

    Chips, with cheese curds and a gravy on top. It's a Canadian dish...we had some piping hot and fresh, so good (but bad at the same time) . Ive seen some poor replications in aus using cheddar cheese.

    Chips as in French Fries for those in the US/Canada lol




    In the US, chips come in a bag and are flavored with BBQ, Salt and Vinegar or Cheddar and Sour Cream. What is a "Fish n Chip Shop"? I assume that's a restaurant that specializes in making a fish fry that is sitting on top of french fries?

    Here is a menu for the usual fish n chip joint, most of them also sell rotisserie chicken/Roast chicken too. You also get tubs of salad, like pasta, greek, tabouli, seafood etc.

    1zuw8rb5vu50.jpg



  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    pebble4321 wrote: »
    Kleenex and Hoover as generic terms come across to me as UK terminology. I expect that most people who grew up in Aus would say tissue and vacuum (though there are lots of Brits here so that can vary) .... but would use bandaid as a generic term.

    Hoover probably is but I'm not sure about Kleenex - I only became familiar with that as a generic term when I emigrated. In the UK it would just be "a tissue". Bandaids/bandages are plasters - again, I didn't hear them called either until I moved. A bandage to me is, like someone else said, the long fabric strip you'd wind around a limb , not a little strip of plastic that covers a cut. :)
  • Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Haha love this thread! So bum is called fanny in America ?? Haha sorry I'm confused !! In U.K. Spite is a brand of lemonade with lime


    I use the term bum or butt. But my kids will laugh hysterically if I use the work "fanny" in front of them.
    A bum is someone who won't work. Only used for "butt" when being silly of deliberately polite.
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Dnarules wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Cool that you started this:

    Canada - US

    pop - soda
    burger - dinner plate
    poutine - "who the *kitten* puts cheese curds on fries???"
    double-double (coffee with double sugar, double cream)
    Timmy's - Dunkin' Doughnuts

    Canada - Australia

    fifty-fifty (10% cream)


    I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree more with this list...

    I live in the US and everyone here uses the term "Pop" for soft drinks. If someone says "Soda" they are usually read the riot act lol. Also, who calls a burger a "Dinner plate"? I have never heard that term!

    Personally I'm a Large black coffee kinda guy, but, every morning my wife gets a Double Double when we go to Tim Hortons. There is 1 Dunkin' near me (not close enough to walk to) and 5 Timmys within a bike ride to my house.

    We also have a poutine restaurant downtown that is extremely popular.





    Am I living in some kind of weird Canadian version of the US and nobody told me? :o

    Nope, I am in NC (from FL) and I do not use the term pop ever. I say soda, or use the word coke in a general way.


    I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".

    It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".
    Touché...but...still no...

    With the exception of puffs, Kleenex is the only known brand name of facial tissue and I don't think there is another name brand name for bandages other than bandaid.

    With contenders like Pepsi, Dr Pepper, 7up, mt dew, etc., it's more like calling all motor vehicles "Fords" even if they're actually Chevys and Chryslers.
    SueSueDio wrote: »
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".

    It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".

    Or calling all vacuum cleaners "Hoovers". I don't vacuum, I do the hoovering... even though mine is a Shark not a Hoover!

    I didn't even know hoovering was a word except for the one time I heard it used as a euphemism for scarfing down food...

    Well no, because nearer all soft drinks are owned by Coke or PepsiCo. Coke own Sprite, Fanta and a lot of others. Pepsi owns 7up, Mountain Dew etc etc. So technically all soft drinks are Coke (or Pepsi, I guess)
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    edited January 2017
    Well no, because nearer all soft drinks are owned by Coke or PepsiCo. Coke own Sprite, Fanta and a lot of others. Pepsi owns 7up, Mountain Dew etc etc. So technically all soft drinks are Coke (or Pepsi, I guess)

    Pizza 73 has a deal at the moment where you get two pizzas and "four cans of Coke". But for your drinks you can actually choose between Coke/Diet Coke/Coke Zero, ginger ale, Nestea, root beer or Sprite.

    I worked as a waitress in the UK for a short time (many years ago!), and the restaurant carried Pepsi rather than Coca Cola. We were all explicitly told that if a diner asked for "a Coke" we were to say "We only have Pepsi, is that okay?" (If they wanted another type of soft drink they'd ask for it by name, since the term "coke" wasn't used, at least back then, to mean anything other than Coca Cola.)

    I've also heard the generic term "cola" used both in the UK and Canada, to cover both Pepsi/Coke and all the other brands of cola that are around these days. :)
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I would be most pissed off if i asked for coke and they gave me a pepsi, or anything other than what i asked for, which is coke :smiley:
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    I may risk being branded a heathen here, but I can't really tell much difference between Coke and Pepsi! ;) But I know a lot of people prefer one or the other, which is why we waitresses were told to point out we didn't have Coke if that's what was asked for. Sometimes people didn't want Pepsi instead!

    Weirdos... ;)
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,951 Member
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png

    I'm definitely from the south, because I was expecting white gravy. The kind you'd put on chicken fried steak. Which has no chicken and isn't even fried like chicken, it's fried like steak, dipped in milk and eggs and flour and served with white gravy. I'm not sure if I think that poutine looks good or not, but I would try it
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,951 Member
    becky3695 wrote: »
    @KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi :p

    Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.


    I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

    I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Haha love this thread! So bum is called fanny in America ?? Haha sorry I'm confused !! In U.K. Spite is a brand of lemonade with lime


    I use the term bum or butt. But my kids will laugh hysterically if I use the work "fanny" in front of them.
    A bum is someone who won't work. Only used for "butt" when being silly of 1) deliberately polite.
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Dnarules wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Cool that you started this:

    Canada - US

    pop - soda
    burger - dinner plate
    poutine - "who the *kitten* puts cheese curds on fries???"
    double-double (coffee with double sugar, double cream)
    Timmy's - Dunkin' Doughnuts

    Canada - Australia

    fifty-fifty (10% cream)


    I'm sorry but I couldn't disagree more with this list...

    I live in the US and everyone here uses the term "Pop" for soft drinks. If someone says "Soda" they are usually read the riot act lol. Also, who calls a burger a "Dinner plate"? I have never heard that term!

    Personally I'm a Large black coffee kinda guy, but, every morning my wife gets a Double Double when we go to Tim Hortons. There is 1 Dunkin' near me (not close enough to walk to) and 5 Timmys within a bike ride to my house.

    We also have a poutine restaurant downtown that is extremely popular.





    Am I living in some kind of weird Canadian version of the US and nobody told me? :o

    Nope, I am in NC (from FL) and I do not use the term pop ever. I say soda, or use the word coke in a general way.


    I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".

    It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".
    Touché...but...still no...

    With the exception of puffs, Kleenex is the only known brand name of facial tissue and I don't think there is another name brand name for bandages other than bandaid.

    With contenders like Pepsi, Dr Pepper, 7up, mt dew, etc., it's more like calling all motor vehicles "Fords" even if they're actually Chevys and Chryslers.
    SueSueDio wrote: »
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    I have never heard of using the word "Coke" for all soft drinks. That seems so weird to me. It would be like calling all fast food restaurants "McDonalds".

    It's like calling all facial tissue "kleenex" or all bandages "bandaids".

    Or calling all vacuum cleaners "Hoovers". I don't vacuum, I do the hoovering... even though mine is a Shark not a Hoover!

    I didn't even know hoovering was a word except for the 2) one time I heard it used as a euphemism for scarfing down food...

    1) What means this? It's not every something I've been accused of.

    2) I'm familiar with a different euphemism. One that shan't be discussed, but is another way to bring all the boys to the yard, that doesn't involve milkshakes.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    Scarfing down food means to shove it quickly into your mouth and eat massive amount in short time - eg in those ridiculous eating contests
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    becky3695 wrote: »
    @KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi :p

    Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.


    I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

    I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.

    Here in big bad Alberta we measure travel in hours too. We're kind of like Texas North with our massive oil sands.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    jgnatca wrote: »
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    becky3695 wrote: »
    @KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi :p

    Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.


    I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

    I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.

    Here in big bad Alberta we measure travel in hours too. We're kind of like Texas North with our massive oil sands.

    Yup, I'm in Western Australia and distance to country towns is usually described in hours rather than km... Albany is about four hours south. Although if you are actually going any distance within the state, then you would use days... Broome is about 2 days drive. Or more likely flying time - Broome is 2 and half hours flight away. Distance interstate would always be flying hours - Sydney is up to five hours flight away (depending on wind and weather).

    Oh, that reminds me of another numbers thing - when working with a US software developer on a learning-about-money program many years ago I had to explain that his way of announcing numbers didn't work.
    He set it up to say "thirty three dollars fifty two cents" and I had to ask for "thirty three dollars and fifty two cents". The "and" really mattered!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    jgnatca wrote: »
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    becky3695 wrote: »
    @KeithWhiteJr I can confirm the southern usage of "coke" as stated by @dnarules. I am just north of Atlanta, and if someone offers you a coke, you say what kind. LOL! It could be a coke, it could be a sprite, Mr. Pibb or even a Pepsi :p

    Also in the south, we call shopping carts "BUGGIES." If you travel deep into Appalachia you will find some folks that will refer to a paper grocery bag as a "POKE" or a poke sack. Enough vegetables picked from your garden to serve at a meal is called a "MESS." "Yonder" a directional term. "Yuns" is a group of people, "You'nes maybe? "A little piece" is a used to measure distance.


    I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

    I love this thread too. Around here it is mixed between cart and buggy. I've always said buggy. And I agree if someone offers you a coke you ask what kind. In Texas we often measure distance in hours. I live about 2 hours west of Dallas.

    Here in big bad Alberta we measure travel in hours too. We're kind of like Texas North with our massive oil sands.

    Ditto Michigan (the hours, not so much the oil). We do tend to use miles once you're in town & "15 minutes" would be ambiguous, i.e, is it a 5 mile 15 minutes with low speed limits and a bunch of stop lights, or a 10 mile 15 minutes on a good-speed unimpeded back road.

    I get the feeling that my friends on the more-congested east coast maybe use miles more often because more of their driving is unpredictable like that. I can't believe how long it takes to drive just a few miles in someplace like Boston! Not sure, though.

    In Michigan, we also point at our hand to show where a city is. (It takes two hands if you have to do both peninsulas.)

    On the "scarfing food" thing, we'd also use it for smaller amounts of food under certain circumstances, such as "he scarfed all the chocolate before I could get any."