US Cultural Knowledge for Confused NZs

Wordsmith.org

Found this searching for "cornobble"...no, don't ask!

A little late, CapK, but there you are!

And if you ever decide to head down this way, Max, you'll be all set!

http://nz.com/NZ/Culture/AmericanCulture.html

oh it is great!

read down, all the way.. i liked PBS/Channel 1
right down to Fox..

and we say naaaw.. (almost the same a gnaw,but stretched out for no, too!) and Nope!

More Kiwi phrases likely to cause confusion in the US

Can I borrow your rubber (meaning an eraser, not a condom)

You didn't ask anyone that while you were here...did'ja, Cap?

[warning - food subthread]

Pop tarts These are flat pastry pockets filled with a substance like jam but with more sugar and less flavour. For good measure, they are coated with extremely sweet icing. Sounds reasonable enough so far, doesn't it but ... get this... they are actually designed to be heated in a toaster and eaten for breakfast. I sent some of these to my sister in NZ. She wrote back saying "these explain a lot about Americans". And so they do. url in first post

Sadly we have these here in Britain - very strange. I am glad to discover that we didn't invent them. They should be cast into the wheelie bin without opening. I was wondering if the sudden surge in diabetes was related to their sales figures. A strange was to start the day. [warning off]

Oh, Sweet WO'N, thank you! What a neat site! So, it seems that in politics, we run and Brit-speakers stand. I was glad to see that--I didn't know it meant that someone was trying to be elected. I'd thought it meant they already had been.

But what's that thing about us not calling chemists chemists? Of course we call them chemists--they are people whose job is working with chemicals.

Can I borrow your rubber

When I was in high school (11th grade, ca 1961) my English text book had the following prargraph, which I memorized, due to its being howlingly archaic even at that time:

"Why do boys detest wearing rubbers more than girls? With their superior strength, boys should be able to jerk rubbers on and off more expertly than girls. The real test, however, is putting rubbers on a squirming three-year-old. Girls are better at this than boys." The following year, the texts substituted "overshoes" for "rubbers." A costly recall because of a change in meaning!

American: girl's basketball
New Zealand: netball from that site...

Oh puh-lease!!! Look, I know it's Zild, but it's not the end of the earth you know oh, ok so it is, but I gotta be careful here, cos I ain't far away from it. I'm sure they have basketball there too. I've played both and there ain't no way no how they's the same thing, not even on the other side of the globe!

Hev

Oh Geoff, I'm ROTFLMAO .... How funny!

Hev

With the exception of the first list of foods - not one of my obsessions - most New Zealanders understand all of the other pairs, and in fact the site should probably have been called "NZ terms for confused USns", because that's the direction most of the confusion exists in! There are also a number of significant errors in the various lists.

You could say that thanks to TV and the endless deluge of other American media most NZers would have absolutely no problems in the States (and no, I didn't ask for a rubber. Do I look stupid?), but I know from experience that many US tourists in NZ spend a lot of their time completely flummoxed by the differences in idiom.

The biggest problem we had in the States was our accent.

Do I look stupid?
[whistling with eyes turned up e]

Hey, Hev. Can Ozzies still get rolls of Durex? You know what I mean

and netball doesn't give you a convenient backboard that allows you to miss the net and still bounce the ball in - you actually have to aim it into the net. And you're not allowed to run with the ball at all (well, 2 steps, but that doesn't really count)

Psssst! Rubrick......did you know that in the US, Durex is one of the brand names for condoms

? Do they sell them by the roll in Oz? Goodness!

Hey Hev! Can Ozzies still get rolls of Durex? You know what I mean

[biting my tongue and responding in all innocence-e]

It's known as Sticky-tape these days. And yes, Rub, I know what you mean... err, that is, um, if we's talkin' 'bout the same thing?

They is rolled

Hev

[whisper-e] Not a cream/creme filled roll?

does this thread need to be transported to the double entendre thread now?

Not a cream/creme filled roll?
Depends on which end you start from, I reckon...

>Durex is one of the brand names for condoms

Iwould think du-regina would sell a bit better.

Hey Jackie! I thought you were supposed to be the gutter police not joining us in the gutter

Hev

On-again, off-again, that's me!

I do have my limits, though!

On and off and on-again and off and on-again and off and ...

Can I borrow your rubber?

Of, course I didn't think you asked that while you were here, CapK! I was just hoping to trigger some fun...and evidently, it worked.

Now, as for your question...well, I dunno. Have you seen a picture of Albert Einstein lately?

Now, as for your question...well, I dunno. Have you seen a picture of Albert Einstein lately?

Now, that picture. I saw an explanation of that, which goes something like this: Einstein was tapped by a photographer who used to be a doctor. A bit nervous in the presence of greatness, the photographer said "Bertie, can you say 'Ah'?" instead of, of course "Cheese".

An easily-made mistake, nae doot!