Different Meanings for Words

[P-p-p-penguin]

Can't speak for everyone but I, and my family/friends, have always called them hundreds and thousands.

[NestHolder]

Okay, I've got one.

In Australia, we call them hundreds and thousands.

In US, I believe you call them sprinkles.

What do they call them in the UK?

Edited cause I pressed enter too early.

In the UK, hundreds and thousands.

A word on napkins: in the UK, there's a well-known class division between napkins and serviettes.  Both mean the squares of fabric or paper that you use to wipe your hands and lips on at the dinner table, but 'napkin' is posh and 'serviette' is lower class.  A lot of people are quite surprised, as 'serviette' sounds more fancy—but that is actually the reason!

(I have a personal belief that a napkin is a classy thing, either made of actual cloth, ideally damask, or of nice, thick, soft and absorbent material if it is a 'paper napkin'.  In my personal dictionary, therefore, there is no such thing as a serviette that is not made of paper, and to me, a serviette is one of those shiny, completely non-absorbent squares of white paper you get given with fast food and at motorway service stations.  Sadly, these definitions are not shared with the rest of the world.)

[Mopsy428]

Around here, most people call "plastic wrap" "Saran wrap". (Yes, I know that Saran is the trade name.)

In the UK its clingfilm to pretty much everybody, I've certainly never heard a Brit call it anything else.

One that an American friend noticed was the different words for refuse/waste.  When I told her that "rubbish goes in the bin over there", she looked at me blankly so I pointed at "Oh the trash can!"  'Rubbish' became one of her favourite 'British' words but sadly she never really managed to pronounce it properly...

Where I live, we use the word "rubbish". Maybe it's regional in the US? I've had other American friends not from my area look at my oddly when I've said "rubbish".

In the Boston area, trash used to be separated into garbage, which was food waste, and rubbish, which was everything else. The trash men picked up the rubbish weekly, and local pig farmers came by a couple of times a week to collect the garbage. Homes would have special garbage cans sunk into the ground, with a cast iron lid operated by a foot pedal to collect the garbage in.

Ah! I'm from NH. 

[RainhaDoTexugo]

Okay, I've got one.

In Australia, we call them hundreds and thousands.

In US, I believe you call them sprinkles.

What do they call them in the UK?

Edited cause I pressed enter too early.

In some areas of the US, they're called jimmies.  I call them sprinkles.

[Mopsy428]

Okay, I've got one.

In Australia, we call them hundreds and thousands.

In US, I believe you call them sprinkles.

What do they call them in the UK?

Edited cause I pressed enter too early.

In my part of the country (New England), many people call the chocolate ones "jimmies" and the rainbow ones "rainbow jimmies". (And, no, it was not named 'jimmies' because of "Jim Crow".)

[katycoo]

  An ATV is an all terrain vehicle, used for riding around in mud, as far as I know   Clicky for ATV

Ahhh, ok that is a quad bike.  Albeit a fancy one.

[pharmagal]

What do you call cling wrap?  We call it Gladwrap, even though it may not be the brand in the drawer it's always gladwrap.

I'll give you that one.  It's always Gladwrap.

I'm Australian, and I was in a thread the other day and said "You should ring her" and the American poster noticed straight away the difference in language - what do Americans say when they want to call someone?
<snip>
ute - for a 2 door car with an open tray at the back

I'm a hybrid.  I'd say "You should call her", but I'd also say "I'll give her a ring".

And you can get 4 door utes, but they're useless.

I'd call a 4 door ute a Hilux - whether it's a Toyota or not.  Again, it may be a regional thing.

[Leafy]

Okay, I've got one.

In Australia, we call them hundreds and thousands.

In US, I believe you call them sprinkles.

What do they call them in the UK?

Edited cause I pressed enter too early.

In the UK, hundreds and thousands.

A word on napkins: in the UK, there's a well-known class division between napkins and serviettes.  Both mean the squares of fabric or paper that you use to wipe your hands and lips on at the dinner table, but 'napkin' is posh and 'serviette' is lower class.  A lot of people are quite surprised, as 'serviette' sounds more fancy—but that is actually the reason!

(I have a personal belief that a napkin is a classy thing, either made of actual cloth, ideally damask, or of nice, thick, soft and absorbent material if it is a 'paper napkin'.  In my personal dictionary, therefore, there is no such thing as a serviette that is not made of paper, and to me, a serviette is one of those shiny, completely non-absorbent squares of white paper you get given with fast food and at motorway service stations.  Sadly, these definitions are not shared with the rest of the world.)

I'm with you on the mental separation to me a napkin is made of cloth and a serviette is made of paper (including the fancy ones with patterns).

On the pad versus napkin though, a pad can be referred to as a sanitary napkin but usually in signs and ads - I've never heard an actual person say it.

Oh, and on the jam/jelly issue I don't think we have the US equivalent of jelly here. I recall they tried it in the 80s but Aussies like chunks of fruit in their jam.

I've heard a story about a group of Australians and Americans having a business meeting wherein the Aussies wanted to 'table' a topic - meaning to talk about it. The Americans agreed to table it but kept avoiding the topic, as they meant not talking about it. We might say 'keep it under the table' or something. Is this story factual or baloney?

[Wonderflonium]

Yup, in the US, to table an argument is to put it to the side for the moment.

[oz diva]

The 100s and 1000s question really should be, what do you do with it. Here we often sprinkle it on buttered bread and call it fairy bread, no under 7 yr old's birthday party is complete without it.

[katycoo]

Oh, and on the jam/jelly issue I don't think we have the US equivalent of jelly here. I recall they tried it in the 80s but Aussies like chunks of fruit in their jam.

Yes - the chucks of fruit are the key difference.

You can get proper Jelly here, but not easily.  I have a recipe that requires Apple Jelly to be melted and brushed over a cake-type dessert.  My mother found it at a specialty store of some kind.

[Bluenomi]

The 100s and 1000s question really should be, what do you do with it. Here we often sprinkle it on buttered bread and call it fairy bread, no under 7 yr old's birthday party is complete without it.

POD, I love fairy bread. DH didn't want any for DD"s 1st birthday party but I made it anyway and we went through 2 loaves of bread! To be fair, it was mostly the adults eating it 

[RainhaDoTexugo]

We use sprinkles on ice cream, cake, and cupcakes.  Yummy.  I've never seen fairy bread here.

[StarDrifter]

What do you mea, "under 7" birthday parties? I've had fairy bread at every birthday party I've ever thrown and I'm 25!

Although there is some disagreement about how it is best prepared - soft, fresh white bread and a thin layer of margarine then, personally, I prefer the round sprinkles to the flat ones.

Some mums, especially friends of mine with young kids, seem to think that wholemeal (whole wheat) or multigrain bread is appropriate for fairy bread, which it isn't.

Best option ever (guilty pleasure only-eat-it-when-I'm-celebrating) option?

Nutella with sprinkles!

[RainhaDoTexugo]

I'm sorry.  I'm not Australian, and not really personally familiar with fairy bread, but it seems like if you're already substituting bread for cupcakes, you need to at least use unhealthy bread.