Watch your language!

In a comment on the previous post, blogger Neil Theasby mentioned that what is called a thrift store in the U.S. is called a charity shop in the U.K.

Someone once said that England and America are two nations divided by the same language . People argue about whether the someone was Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, or someone else. I really don’t care who said it, but it is definitely true.

For example, here are a few words that people in both countries say but mean different things when they say them:

boot
bonnet
hood
trunk
biscuit
cookie
napkin
lift
anchor
flat
billion
knickers
casket
fanny
chips
hooker
liquor

There are many more examples I could cite but these are enough to prove my point.

I would say that most Americans are aware by now that a lorry is a truck, lift means elevator, flat means apartment, and petrol is gasoline. Hands across the sea and all that.

Australia, however, is in a class by itself. Because of its remoteness, Australian is almost a foreign language. In Australia there are skivvies and billabongs.

I rest my case.