Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Oct 15-Chatty Tuesday

Ilka has a number of assignments coming up and she has really been under the gun. Lots of pressure.
She finally threw in the towel and we ended up talking all day. Discussing how a two people can see the same thing but perceive it so differently. She is a psych  Major ..takes me back..I also remember my dear SIL analyzing everything and everyone around her. Ilka gets the same reaction from me as Lydia once did...I smile and chuckle inside. I think it is very healthy for "Students" to express themselves and discuss their beliefs . I find it all very interesting.
Also, there are the differences in language that has always been of great interest. heck, certain things change from state to state..Like the Sub, hoggie or Hero sandwich (depending on where your from) or Soda, soda pop, Pop..again depending on the state. So it doesn't surprise me that so many expressions are different here. Thought you might be interested also. Like when I  was asked if I brought "gumboots". They would be our yellow rain boots. Or when I was told "Get Off the grass". I wasn't standing on any grass and must have looked a bit puzzled. It is when we would say "No way!"
When I was asked if I wanted a "Lolly", I said no because I would have felt foolish at the time having a stick popping out of my mouth. A Lolly here is just a piece of hard candy.
This evening we are having "Bangers and mash" that would be sausage and mashed potatoes . We may also have biscuits for dessert, that would be a cookie folks.Or we could have  pavlova, which is a meringue cup filled with custard.
When we got to the store we put our things in  Trolly and what a trip the super market is. Tomato sauce:catsup, tin's of soup= cans of soups, swede= rutabaga, kumara= yam or sweet potato, jam is jelly and jelly is Jello (don't mix those two up what ever you do) Fizzy is soda pop, crisps = potato chips, chips are french fries and the coolest one is my favorite candy, Candyfloss which is what they call my Cotton candy.
When it comes to meals...don't ask..I still don't know if I'm having supper or tea (imagine I thought tea was something you drank)Brekkie is Breakfast, Tea is dinner and Supper is late evening coffee. Ugh!!
Don't even get me started on a car that runs on Petrol , you don't look under the hood, you lift the Bonnet, don't put things in the trunk, put them in the Boot, you don't get a dented fender, you get a prang in your mudguard, your windshield isn't cracked , you have a crack in your windscreen, you don't park in a parking lot you park in a car park and you drive on a motorway  not a highway.
In the house I sit in the lounge and watch TV and use the Loo if I have the collywobbles(up set stomach) or I want to change my baby's Nappy (diaper).
I don't go to 7-11, I go to the Dairy. No drug stores, only Chemist and the list goes on. Needless to say it takes some getting used to and I say "Huh?" and "excuse me?" a lot. I saw a little Kiwi on the Ellen show the other day and he kind of summed it up when Ellen asked him about the planet Uranus  .In his little Kiki accent he said we don't say Uranus because anus means bum  (meaning behind or arse) and he proceeded  to say it correctly.People around here don't get Pissed when they are angry, they get Pissed when they are drunk. And they get that way when they attend a piss-up which is a party with alcohol.
So I hope you enjoyed this little Pom lesson (their word for English person, which I'm really not, I just want to use the word Pom) Actually I am Pakeha, which is anyone who isn't Maori.
See, even sitting around talking is fun in this country LOL


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