Language Difficulties

I am continually discovering how different the language is here. I constantly get asked about my accent as many pick it as being English but with something different. When I explain I have lived in Australia as well they then 'recognise' it. But, I find I am using words that many do not understand.

I recently asked a person if they had a torch as my son in law had dropped something in their garden and it was getting dark. The woman looked at me in a very puzzled manner but when I explain what we needed it for she said, “I have a flash light, will that do?”.

I have said car park to one person got a puzzled look and eventually managed to come up with parking lot. I asked about where a rubbish bin was and was looked at as if I was speaking a foreign language, which I guess I was as they call it a trash can here. Biscuits (as in the English meaning) are of course Cookies, Sweets are Candy, Petrol is Gas, the Cinema is the Movie Theater, Chips are Fries, the Pavement is the Sidewalk, it is not a Lift but an Elevator, the ground floor is the first floor in a building, the Boot of a car is of course the Trunk, it is not a Bar-B-Q but a Grill, an Entree is not the first course of a meal, but the main course (the first is the appetizer), soft drinks (as in Coke etc) are Soda, lemonade is a drink made with water, lemons and sugar, not the fizzy drink I am used to in the UK, and you don't have milk in your coffee, you have cream.

I have also discovered variations on names for some vegetables. You would think something like peppers would be pretty simple and universal right?

Wrong.

What I would call peppers, here they are bell peppers, not only that, I am used to red and green (bell) peppers, I have seen yellow ones, but here they also have black and orange ones. What I would call chillis they call peppers. Here are some of the varieties (of peppers) I have discovered:

Anaheim: A mild pepper.
Cubanelle: Similar to anaheim, a sweet pepper. That is long and tapered and is usually pale green or yellow, but can also be red in colour.
Habañero: One of the spiciest of the chilli peppers.
Hungarian Wax: A similar heat level to a jalapeño… even a little hotter.
Jalapeño: Probably the most common hot pepper. Known for its bright green colouring and smooth texture but with a definite kick.
Poblano: A mild chilli pepper slightly spicier than a bell pepper.
Serrano: Referred to as a “finger hot” pepper due to its long slender shape.

I am also used to sweet corn being yellow, but here you can get white corn as well. It really is an example of the more you know the less you know!