During a blackout in San Francisco several years ago, I walked downstairs from our apartment to the nearest store and asked for a torchlight. We both spoke English, but it took several minutes of pantomiming to get what I wanted, a flashlight.
More recently in Seattle, I went on and on about our new carpet to a friend, who looked puzzled, until he figured out I was talking about a new rug.
It’s been 10 years, and some days I still get it wrong.
But why do you need to get it right, Dot? (You’ve heard my take on this before, and besides, I am feeling a little lost today, so bear with me.)
I think a different word than what I say out loud.
When I say shower, I mean bathe.
When I say stroller, I mean pram.
When I say Band-Aid, I mean Handiplast.
When I say flashlight, I mean torchlight.
When I say trunk, I mean boot.
When I say purse, I mean handbag.
When I say how are you, I mean eat already or not.
When I say rug, I mean carpet.
When I say bathroom, I mean toilet.
When I say napkin, I mean serviette.
When I say I’m hungry, I mean there’s nothing here I want to eat and can I buy a $1,000 ticket to fly home to eat something that’s tasty that rhymes with yong tau foo.
I love this! It’s soooo true and it just happened to me too with the serviette and boot not too long ago. Great post!
I had problems with nappy/diaper/pampers!
I thought nappy is associated with cloth nappy. Then I said diapers but was teased coz this part of the world don’t use it. I have to say pampers to my folks for them to understand.
Btw, this part of the world calls slippers, “thong”. Which I associate with major wedgy. I say panties, everyone giggles thinking it’s a naughty spanky word.
I give up.
When I say elevator, I mean lift.
When I say stand in line, I mean queue up.
When I say candy, I mean sweets.
When I say freeway, I mean highway.
When I say trash can, I mean dustbin.
When I say eraser, I mean rubber.
Our first two years here was really hard…
spot on! Ms HO. Spot on!
AS much as I am supposed to speak proper Engrish here. I sometimes like to give my sentences some edge and add some Singlish rhythm which send people to laughter! heheheh. I feel kinda sterile without my singlishLAH! LOL.
How can one know that if a car leaves marks on the road, which we call a skid-mark it means the bad doodoo one line that is left on someone who accidentally pooed in his pants? OR the why do we need to pronounce bitumen- bitchmen instead of bitumen in Australia? So the pedanticlah.
it works both ways! and it IS exhausting, dot! as an American living in Singapore for the past 10 years, I also still get it wrong.
i’ve spent 15 minutes in the GO with Mdm Lim both of us working veeerrrry hard to figure out how in the HELL else can I describe a business card to her so that she knows what I want her to order for me. finally, i see understanding dawn in her eyes and she says, “you want name cah, eh?” yesssssss, thank you god.
also had entire conversations with australian co-worker derailed over pronunciation. once, talking about the australian term for a mickey mouse course (a class you take in uni for a guaranteed A), Pia said in Australia, they call it a Mah-crahm-mee course (phonetic spelling). what is that? i say. you know, she says, the stuff we use to do in the 70s. with ropes. making knots. to hang your planters in it? oh. silence while i try to connect the dots. Macrame? (which we pronounce Mack-ra-may)? she says, what did you say?
jake is headed to American summer camp in a few months and i’ve already started talking to him about the different words a) americans use for things and b) southerners use for things. I can’t properly explain to him what an American biscuit is. But he’s gonna love it when he has one. i just hope they don’t beat the crap out of him when he politely declines something by saying, “no thanks. I don’t fancy it.”
i love this post. i had a bit of problems after leaving the american school, and moved to singapore, but as i was only 15 back then, i made the switch pretty easily between british and american english words. about accents (which you wrote about in that other post u linked to), i code switch too, depending on who i speak to. i find it exhausting sometimes because if i don’t, my singaporean friends say i speak funny.
Hahaha! Thanks all for sharing. I forgot all about the candy/sweet and the nappy debate. Plus I think “nappy” may mean something not that pleasant here.
in my neck of the woods, nappy is an insulting adjective used to describe someone’s unkempt hair. most of the black kids i went to school with would call each other nappy headed. i’m nappy-headed after it rains here and my hair gets super frizzy. carrot top probably gets nappy hair.
according to chinatraders.com: if you use nappy to describe your dinnerware, you are talking about a round vegetable dish.
who knew?