Kit Kats and MasterCharge

[b2addm]

My ex inlaws called their refrigerator a kelvinator. I didn't know WTF they were talking about until someone explained it to me.

[Mike Taylor]

We have our own language down here. Just ask Jeff Foxworthy.

Indeed we do.

[Mike Taylor]

What? No one has mentioned a davenport? Inconceivable!

We speak not of the Davenport. It is more frightening than a gazebo.

[Ironclad Alibi]

We speak not of the Davenport. It is more frightening than a gazebo.

Especially one sitting on a grassy knoll.

[Andara Bledin]

Especially one sitting on a grassy knoll.

I think I'd be more worried about one if it were sitting on a grassy gnoll, myself.

^-.-^

[telecom_goddess]

Until she died, my grandmother still said "warsh" sometimes and I can still get my mom will still say "dawg" every once in a great while.

My sister does that! She always says "warsh" and I don't know why, our mom didn't and I sure don't.

[EricKei]

Hrm...I know (and use) far too many of those terms, myself >_>

"Necktie", tho, I can understand being used today -- as opposed to a bow tie, or a twist tie, or a rail tie ^_^ Even strictly in-context, "bow tie" is still a possibility.

As for a chest of drawers? Duh, that's where your drawers (pronounced "drawz"), aka underwear and/or shorts, are kept, of course! Silly!

As for an ice col' co-cola...? You say that as if there are other words for "coke" aside from "soft drink", that people actually use

As for names like Kleenex -- Many companies (Xerox, in particular) spend millions of dollars a year in advertising trying to STOP people from doing this. While being a universal name sounds nice, failure to defend a Trademarked name opens them up to challenges that could cause them to lose their Trademark on the name...And, also, they don't want their name to be associated with other companies' (read: "inferior") products.

[scruff]

I've heard Chesterfield before, but usually in the context of old movies and UK TV. Don't forget doing the Hoovering!

Yup, a hoover is a hoover. Even if it is nowadays more usually a dyson.
:-)
Pens are more complex. ballpoints here are usually called biros, after the manufacturer, but in france apparently they are bics, after another manufacturer. Trouble is, here bic is better known for selling razors... I had some _wierd_ conversations with my french coworker.

[Pagan]

Yup, a hoover is a hoover. Even if it is nowadays more usually a dyson.
:-)
Pens are more complex. ballpoints here are usually called biros, after the manufacturer, but in france apparently they are bics, after another manufacturer. Trouble is, here bic is better known for selling razors... I had some _wierd_ conversations with my french coworker.

BIC also makes lighters.

[EricKei]

Pens are more complex..

Pens? Oh! Ohhh! You must mean "ink pens"!

...As opposed to "fountain pens" -- locally, anyway...

[Deevil]

Pens? Oh! Ohhh! You must mean "ink pens"!

I tend to say "ink pen"...especially when I am at work. Pen and pin often sound too much alike over the phone, and it wouldn't do to send somebody writing utensils when they actually wanted something that people wear.

[wolfie]

Mastercharge: Well, many people still use the original terms for things, that they learned eons ago. My grandfather used to insist on calling his refrigerator the "icebox" .My mother always used the term "gasoline" rather than "gas". Always. And I laugh at stories that use the terms "fingernail polish" or "necktie." They're accurate, but they sound so old-fashioned. Dagnabbit!

My mother was the worst at this and it drove me crazy. Movies were always "pictures" and a phone was a "telephone" and the fridge was always a "fridgidair" and the couch for some odd reason was always called a "chesterfield".

Just be sure that, while you're sitting on the "chesterfield" listening to the "wireless" (can't believe nobody thought of that one yet), don't fall asleep while smoking the other kind of Chesterfield - wouldn't want to start a fire.

[PepperElf]

Mastercharge: Well, many people still use the original terms for things, that they learned eons ago. My grandfather used to insist on calling his refrigerator the "icebox" .My mother always used the term "gasoline" rather than "gas". Always. And I laugh at stories that use the terms "fingernail polish" or "necktie." They're accurate, but they sound so old-fashioned. Dagnabbit!

Heh, kinda like how Sis and I grew up saying, "directional light" instead of "turn signal".


(still do, really... cos Dad taught us how to drive).

[wolfie]

Especially one sitting on a grassy knoll.

I think I'd be more worried about one if it were sitting on a grassy gnoll, myself.

^-.-^

I'm sure the tinfoil hat crowd would expect that monster to buy you a B-52 and a Slippery Nipple - after all, that would fit their theory of there being 2 shooters on the grassy gnoll.

[Merriweather]

We speak not of the Davenport. It is more frightening than a gazebo.

Ok, going OT for an official "Merriweather's cute granddaughter story" (patent pending).

CG (Cute Granddaughter, of course) was staying with us when she was about six or seven - now as a bit of BG, CG's vocabulary was usually years above her actual age, so by that age, mixed up words were very rare indeed.

So we're out for a drive (looking for garage sales, to be honest) one morning, driving through neighborhoods, when suddenly she rather excitedly says "look, look, that house has a zebra in the backyard". So of course assuming it wasn't a full-fledge horse in striped pajamas grazing away, I'm looking for a garden decoration, a mural on a garage door, anything at all with a zebra theme. Nada. So I ask her where, I can't see it. She gets quite exaspurated, says "right there, in the back yard". I look again, no striped cats, no black & white signs, nothing. I tell her I still can't see it. What exactly do you see? At this point she's looking at me like I'm obviously needing new glasses and shouldn''t be driving a car. "There, right there. A zebra - you know, like they have weddings and stuff in!". Wherein, the light bulb goes on - "oh, you mean a gazebo". At which point she goes , " oops, yes, that".