- A customer asked me the other day where our 'tinned roses' might be. Now I am proud to say that I immediately got the 'tinned' bit -- that's English for 'canned' -- but I was stumped with the picture in my head of a can or jar of flowers. Huh??? I just came right out and told her I was American and I didn't understand her request. She explained that it's a nice chocolate (Cadbury's, come
to find out) that is often sold in large tins at Christmas. She was wondering if we had them this time of year. - You know all those abbreviations for products that are used on the supermarket receipt that you get? Like 'fzn broccoli' = frozen broccoli or 'body ltn' = body lotion. Many of these abbreviations are used on the small computer screen on the trolleys that I use to pick the groceries for the internet customers. I noticed that this particular brand of dishsoap always came up as 'Persil wul' with whatever scent attached -- apple, lemon, original, etc. Persil is the brand name...but I never saw anything that said 'wul' on it. Then I noticed that a Tesco brand 'wul' came up the other
day which stumped me even more b/c I knew it wasn't something with the Persil brand. Then it suddenly dawned on me...the English don't use dishsoap...they use washing up liquid! Duh! It only took me 2 months to figure that one out! - A co-worker in another department asked me last weekend if I was planning to do any travelling this summer. I told him that my husband was going to study in Germany for the month of June but we hadn't made any plans as a family yet. I told him that it is more difficult to travel when you have 2 young kids. When I s
aw him yesterday, he asked if we found it difficult because we had young goats or young children. Ha! They don't talk about kids here...their children are their 'bairns' (which sounds like bens).
This one isn't specifically an English thing...but it was still funny.
- When another co-worker found out that I was from Dallas, he asked if there were a lot of mustangs there. My mind went Dallas...Texas...cowboys...horses...mustangs. I honestly didn't think this was what he was talking about, but I just replied with 'not really.' He sounded a bit disappointed and then said he just
absolutely loves fast cars. Aahhh! That Mustang! I then told him that I grew up outside of Detroit in a town that had a Ford plant...and there were loads of Mustangs there. :)
And just when I think I might never adapt to the language or culture and I'm feeling a little out of place, I hear a tune. Someone is whistling in Tesco...and it's a tune that is too familiar...one that just breathes 'America'. The theme to the Andy Griffith Show. I found a fellow *picker* whistling it most of the morning. When I told him that I thought it was hilarious, I think he really thought I was telling him I
was annoyed with the repitition of it. Far from it...but it made me LOL when he switched to Sanford and Sons. :)
3 comments:
I love these stories! I'll have to try and listen for some new phrases when we go to Dominica this summer. I can't remember any from last summer.
It's funny how different cultures adopt different colloquialisms. My fav was the "wul" ... wouldn't have ever figured that one out.
A weird thing here is instead of having to be somewhere AT 4:00, you have to be there FOR 4:00...after living here for 5 years, I find myself saying it. ;) There's loads of other ones, but that's the one that I've always noticed.
Good ones! Thanks for the laugh this morning...
I didn't know what it was to "nurse a baby" over here, and it's not what we would refer to in the states, so imagine my surprise when Cerys was born and someone asked me if they could nurse her! EXCUSE ME?!?
And, the time I stood up in front an assembly that we were doing at a primary school and told the kids to "do the motions" with us, only later to be told that "motions" was used when talking about bowel movements. Oh dear me, I could hid under a rock!
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