AY

[amberfishy]

ATTENTION AUSTRALIAN BLOGGERS,

A thrift store is called an opshop
The 'bathroom' is the TOILET.
It's a 'petrol station' not a 'gas station'
And you don't buy your food from a grocer.

Yours sincerely,

Crabby protectoress of Australian colloquial terms.

Comments

[snr0n]

"Bathroom" is really just a euphemism, not an Americanism. It's just that poopin' is something that Americans particularly tend to euphemise. But being someone who personally prefers dysphemism, I'm all for mocking people who say "bathroom". Never mind that it's confusing - neither of my toilets are in the bathroom, so when someone asks for the bathroom, I have to figure out if they need to pee or if they just want a mirror or something.

I'm not really sure what you reckon the Aussie alternative to "grocer" is... "supermarket", maybe? Not every place that sells groceries is big enough to be a supermarket, and supermarket is actually an American word anyway. "Grocer", however, is much older than the USA.

I know that's hells anal of me, but yeah. :P

[moonvoice]

Not every place that sells groceries is big enough to be a supermarket, and supermarket is actually an American word anyway. "Grocer", however, is much older than the USA.

Yeah, our local Asian grocer is not a supermarket, and they actually call themselves a grocer (in Oz). So to me supermarkets are like the larger chains like Coles / Woolworths etc. And for anything smaller, it's either a market or Asian grocer or whatever.