However, I often run up against another problem in the grocery store. You would think that coming from an English speaking place TO an English speaking place (if you could say that about SoCal) would mean communication is pretty straightforward. Tragically, this is not the case. So I'll provide you with a list of common items to ask for, that you can be sure the store assistant won't find;
Bin bags.
Biscuits. No, not biscuit. Biscuits. The ones that have no affiliation whatsoever with gravy.
Cream crackers.
Dettol. (It's what we clean kitchen counters with at home... why don't you guys have an alternative?!)
Hoover bags.
Crisps.
Rashers.
Mobile credit. (That one really mystifies people)
Sweeties.
Buns.
There's a shopping list for you. Everything that is readily available in stores, that you will never find. =p Luckily, years of watching The Simpsons have educated me in the language of Americans, so I can switch back and forth between Irish English and American English, and successfully find things like "pants" and "oatmeal" with little difficulty.
Not that I eat oatmeal.
But I could find it, if I wanted to.
The only thing funnier than imagining a California store assistant trying to find the things on your list, is imagining a Tennessee store assistant trying to find the things on your list. Hahaha
ReplyDeleteWhat's even funnier is listening to her tell the story of her first trip to a supermarket, jet lagged, and unable to find the tins of fish. LOLOLOL
ReplyDeleteWell except for mobile credit (what the hell is that?) I'm pretty sure we have all those things here in 'merica. But it seems like it's a case of 2 countries divided by a common language, no?
ReplyDeleteExactly, Connie. It's the exact same things you guys have here, but we just use such different names for everything that it can be pretty confusing trying to find everything!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the tins of fish story will go down in history as one of the lower points of my existence. LOL!
Oh, and mobile credit is what we put in our cell phones at home to make calls. We don't work off minutes, like here, we work off cash. So if I put 20 euro of credit in my phone, I can make 20 euro's worth of calls. However, I can receive as many calls as I like, credit or not. So I don't have to stick to X amounts of minutes a month in order to have a working phone.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I barely understand it either. Cell phones over here mystify me.
I take it buns is not like buns for hamburgers and hot dogs? Crisps are chips I think but what are rashers? Now imgaine looking for all of this stuff in a nonenglish speaking part of Cali or like FL thats would be 10x worse.
ReplyDeleteBuns are cupcakes. =p Rashers are bacon. Crisps are chips. Chips are fries. ("Fry's" are also crisps back home, lol)
ReplyDelete