One thing that puzzled me when I moved to Alberta from Ontario, was Albertans’ use of the word case, in relation to beverages.
In Ontario, a case is a package of 24 units. Most often beer, but it can also be applied to soft drinks (e.g. a case of Coke means 24 cans of Coke). Yes, in Ontario, we had twelve-packs (often called twelves), and six-packs (sixes), but the word case was reserved for twenty-fours (or simply two-fours). But here in Alberta, I found that case meant a twelve-pack, while flat meant a twenty-four.
Somewhat similarly, in Canada, a mickey is a 13-ounce bottle of liquor. I believe that Americans call such things a half-pint, but am not sure. At any rate, I found out that asking for a “mickey of Jack Daniels” will get you a “huh?” in any American liquor store, while it wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in any Canadian liquor store.
In America, a 375 mL bottle, which I think is roughly equivalent to your mickey, is called a “pint”, even though it’s only 12.6 ounces and a standard pint is 16. You also have a 200 mL “half-pint” (6.7 oz), a 750 mL “fifth” (25.3 oz), and a 1.75L “half-gallon” (59.1 oz). The bottling industry was one of the few that actually switched to metric and stuck with it during the attempt at national conversion in the '70s, and the newly-resized bottles, with their conveniently rounded volumes, have retained the nomenclature of their pre-metric equivalents.
Thank you! Ignorance fought. Yes, we went to metric labelling also, but nomenclature has proved a hard habit to break. Mickey (375 ml or 13 oz), twenty-sixer (750 ml or 26 oz), forty-pounder (1.14 liters or 40 oz)–common sizes and parlance, here in Canada. Even if the sizes are a few tenths of a percent off, the nomenclature remains. And so do the sizes, in both the US and Canada.
According to the quiz this Australian is from California. Which probably makes sense given that California is probably quite “melting pot” and indistinct. I’d be interested in whether others found that often the answer I wanted to give was “all [or several] of the above”
It’s not unknown in Australia.
Small English and Irish town houses almost invariably have their living room at the front and quite often call it that, so that would make sense.
Americans, you are going to a swimming pool or a beach. What is the generic terms for the clothes you wear for this activity? Depending on your answer I can tell which part of Australia you are from!
Another local thing is to call the bag a school kid carries a “port” (no doubt from portmanteau). This used to be the invariable term used in Queensland but not elsewhere when I was in primary (junior) school but not so much high school. And I understand its usage has retreated to more regional areas of Qld now.
In New England, at least when I was growing up there, “sprinkles” of the sort you put on ice cream or cake were called “jimmies.” I wasn’t aware it was a regional term until I was in DC and ordered jimmies on my ice cream cone, making the server smile and say, “You’re a New Englander, aren’t you?” When I asked how he knew, he told me that the rest of the country calls them “sprinkles.”
Hmmm yes that answer says you are probably not from Australia, or are speaking formally.
We have a number of regional terms for swimming costume but “swimming costume”, while used and understood, is not regional and is only used relatively formally.
My dad was from Boston and I picked up “jimmies” from him. I still exclusively refer to the things as “chocolate jimmies” and “rainbow jimmies” to this day, to the consternation of my friends and coworkers who have no idea what I’m talking about.
Togs in NSW. Cozzie is more NSW. Bathers is more Victoria (and the UK)
Trunks isn’t used. Men either wear the brief style (becoming rare outside sport) or board shorts (boardies). There are more slang terms for the former than one could possibly imagine, most somewhat obscene -Speedo’s, budgie smugglers, dick togs, banana hammocks, you get the picture
I grew up in western MA, and soft drinks were referred to as “soda”. Here in the Midwest, it is called “pop”, which is a drug slang term in the New York streets for Heroin injections between one’s fingers.
Converse All-Stars/Chuck Taylors or Vans, granted, that’s due to those types of shoes typically being one of those brands. Converse for the ‘older’ generation, Vans for the younger.
When I think of ‘boat shoes’, I think of Topsiders/Docksiders which have leather uppers and soles with very little or no tread on the bottom (like bowling shoes) to prevent small rocks or other debris from getting picked up and scratching up your boat. My grandparents were big into boating and my mom would have to wear those types of shoes on the boat.