Vocabulary meme
Apr. 2nd, 2008 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienvia ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
intertext
I grew up in the north of England, lower middle-class with working-class grandparents, but I've spent the last ten years in the Southwestern US, and my reading and TV incorporated a fair bit of American output for years before that.
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
stream or brook
2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
Shopping trolley
3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
Sandwich tin. (But if it was plastic it would be a lunch box or sandwich box.)
4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
Frying pan (not that I ever do. Cook bacon and eggs, I mean.)
5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
Settee
6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
gutter
7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
verandah? patio? Not a big feature in the suburbs of northern England, really.
8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.
Fizzy drink
9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
Pancakes. (That comes from my American experience; syrup and pancakes aren't breakfast foods at all to my British side.)
10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
sub in the US, baguette at home
11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
swimming trunks
12. Shoes worn for sports.
trainers, plimsolls
13. Putting a room in order.
Tidying, fettling
14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
Firefly
15. The little insect that curls up into a ball.
Woodlouse
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.
Seesaw
17. How do you eat your pizza?
Knife and fork at home, fingers in public.
18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
Car boot sale, garage sale (?) -- not very common where I grew up.
19. What's the evening meal?
Dinner or tea, depending. It was always tea at home (dinner being a main meal eaten at midday, usually; calling the evening meal dinner would be a further south/higher class thing. Supper meant a small bedtime snack (usually just a milky drink, occasionally a biscuit [cookie]).
20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?
The basement in the US (though they're not common around here), cellar in the UK
21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
Water fountain, drinking fountain. (They were scarce in the UK in my childhood, and I was mostly not allowed to use the ones in public parks even when they worked, but there were a couple at school.)
intertextI grew up in the north of England, lower middle-class with working-class grandparents, but I've spent the last ten years in the Southwestern US, and my reading and TV incorporated a fair bit of American output for years before that.
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
stream or brook
2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
Shopping trolley
3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
Sandwich tin. (But if it was plastic it would be a lunch box or sandwich box.)
4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
Frying pan (not that I ever do. Cook bacon and eggs, I mean.)
5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
Settee
6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
gutter
7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
verandah? patio? Not a big feature in the suburbs of northern England, really.
8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.
Fizzy drink
9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
Pancakes. (That comes from my American experience; syrup and pancakes aren't breakfast foods at all to my British side.)
10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
sub in the US, baguette at home
11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
swimming trunks
12. Shoes worn for sports.
trainers, plimsolls
13. Putting a room in order.
Tidying, fettling
14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
Firefly
15. The little insect that curls up into a ball.
Woodlouse
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.
Seesaw
17. How do you eat your pizza?
Knife and fork at home, fingers in public.
18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
Car boot sale, garage sale (?) -- not very common where I grew up.
19. What's the evening meal?
Dinner or tea, depending. It was always tea at home (dinner being a main meal eaten at midday, usually; calling the evening meal dinner would be a further south/higher class thing. Supper meant a small bedtime snack (usually just a milky drink, occasionally a biscuit [cookie]).
20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?
The basement in the US (though they're not common around here), cellar in the UK
21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
Water fountain, drinking fountain. (They were scarce in the UK in my childhood, and I was mostly not allowed to use the ones in public parks even when they worked, but there were a couple at school.)
