Current Mood:  curious
I took this from mary_j_59. It probably works better with American dialects, but throws up some interesting points even with British ones.
Where did you grow up? Edinburgh.
What do you call-
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
A burn. But only in Scotland - in England I'd feel too self-conscious, and people would probably ask me what I meant. Here I would probably call it a brook (lively, babbling, found in hilly country) or a stream (more placid).
2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
A trolley. But I would push it around the supermarket - the grocer's would be far too small to require one.
3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
A lunchbox (but one made of metal would be odd - usually they are plastic).
4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
A frying pan - I've never heard any other name for this.
5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
A sofa.
6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
I would call these gutters, but my mother would call them rones. The sad march of standard English . . .
7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
Sit outside? In the evening? You mean there are places where it is warm enough to do this? Actually it is warm enough to do this in Oxford - sometimes.
This might be a terrace, if it is paved, and if the cover is made of canvas, like a large umbrella. The thing with railings running the length of the house, and covered by the roof of the house, is a verandah. In a film, set in the USA, it would be a porch - but in Britain I would think of a porch as a very small enclosed space in front of the front door.
8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.
I would usually say Coca-cola, Irn Bru, Sprite, Lemonade etc., but collectively I suppose they would be fizzy drinks, which sounds very childish. If contrasted with alcohol, they would be soft drinks, but that would also include fruit juices or mineral water.
9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
A pancake.
10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
Ah! This could be a baguette, a ciabatta, or a panini - depending on the type of bread, and if it is toasted or not. There is now a chain of shops called 'Subway' where they have yet another type, called a 'sub', and these are beginning to creep into supermarkets, but I still tend to associate subs with the navy . . .
11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
Swimming trunks, or shorts, depending on the shape and material.
12. Shoes worn for sports.
Trainers, or training shoes to be slightly more formal. We used to call them 'gym shoes' when I was a child, or 'plimsolls', but now I would only use these words nostalgically.
13. Putting a room in order.
Tidying, or tidying up.
14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
A firefly.
15. The little insect that curls up into a ball.
These are American, I think, although I have seen caterpillars that can curl up.
16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down.
A see-saw. Again, I have never heard this called anything else.
17. How do you eat your pizza?
In polite company, with a knife and fork. If I'm eating alone in front of the TV, I cut it into six and eat it with my fingers - provided I can be sure that it isn't going to fall to pieces if I do this!
18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
I don't think it's called anything - I assume this means the sort of signs with little tags at the bottom with the person's phone number on? A car boot sale is where people turn up with unwanted possessions in their cars, and sell from there, and a jumble sale, or a bring and buy sale, is where people bring goods to be sold on stalls - usually for charity.
19. What's the evening meal?
When this is the main meal of the day, as it usually is for me, it's dinner. If it's not the main meal, it's supper, which might also be a sort of snack eaten some hours after a light or early evening meal. In Scotland it would traditionally be called tea (as in 'You'll have had your tea?') but I have never used this. A high tea would be an early evening meal, usually of something like bacon and eggs, followed by toast, cake, and tea.
20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?
Any habitable space below ground level is a basement. If it's for storage only, it's a cellar.
21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
A drinking fountain. |
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