SOLD: Beautiful Happyzine

I’ve always wanted to learn another language. Being Canadian, with our two official languages – English and French, I should easily be bilingual. But I’m not. However, it’s my opinion that all Canadians should be speaking both French and English, yet, more than half of the country has no knowledge of the French language. It’s not a North American trait to diversify our culture when it comes to language, as English is the main language used for business and international communication.

According to Wikipedia 1,800 million people in the world speak English.  That’s roughly 1/7 of the all the people on earth. So, really what’s the point? Well, languages are an extension of communication, which allows us to share thoughts, feelings and ideas. By taking the time to learn another language you also discover nuances of their culture and identity which you might not discover otherwise.

As I’ve learned though, I am not unilingual. I can, in fact, speak several languages. They just all happen to be different dialects of English!  I’ve got a Kiwi partner; had a South African boss; now a Scottish boss; have travelled all over Australia; was born in Canada; grew up on American TV and have spent much of the past four years living in England. Each of these countries adheres to its own language, branding them all English. Those from England believe they have the upper hand as they have ownership on the roots of the language, but I’m fairly certain not everyone would agree.

Where possible I try to retrieve the appropriate word from my vocabulary to suit my audience.  So if my dad calls from Canada, or I’m in a meeting full of British people or I’m out with my New Zealand boy, I strive to cater to their preferred vernacular. I’ve conformed on many of my word choices, so I’ll regularly say loo, crisps, aubergine, tip and subway instead of bathroom, chips, eggplant, mess and underpass. But there are some words that I just can’t conform to like trousers and biscuits. Trousers are pressed pants or dress pants, they’re not an all encompassing term for the piece of clothing that covers the lower half of the body. Those would be pants. And biscuits are a savoury bread roll typically served with gravy – not a sweet cookie. Again, all a matter of personal choice. You say to-may-toe, I say to-mah-tah, and all that.

English is a funny language and often rude words in one country might be perfectly acceptable in others – care must be taken. The story was told of a young Englishman who went to work at a stockbrokers in New York for the summer. On his first day there he was initiated into the sink or swim model of survival at the job. Here’s a load of work; it all needs to be done yesterday – you figure it out! And so in his desire to make a good impression he was writing away furiously in pencil, so that just in case, corrections could be made. Now as is usually the case, if something can go wrong, it will and it did. The young man made a mistake and needed to correct it, so he turned to the guy beside him and asked for a rubber. A bit of a laugh and a no, I don’t usually bring rubbers to work and the guy turned away. The pressure was mounting. So the young man tried again, went up to another desk, again, asking for a rubber. To which he got a similar reply, nope, no rubber. The young man, in his haste, thought to maximise his chances of finding a rubber by shouting across the office: “Does anyone have a rubber?”. This created, as expected, by all but the young man, a great deal of laughter and mirth.

You see, in New York a rubber is a condom, not the eraser the young man needed to correct his pencil markings!

Even with the move to New Zealand I find myself grimacing every time I hear the word ‘bogan’. It’s been explained to me time and again that the term denotes the same meaning as a ‘skid’ in Canada or a ‘chav’ in the UK, however, the term bogan in Canada is commonly used as a derogatory racial slur against the Native peoples of our country. Other less controversial Kiwi words that I needed a translation for the first time I heard them: bit of a dag, brickie, wop-wops, tomato sauce, ta, smoko, petrol, lolly, squiz, lorry, buggered, brickie… I could go on but I expect you’ve got the point!

Learning how and why we use the words we do and how this might change as we travel across the ocean, or around the world, gives us the opportunity to think about where we came from and how time and distance has altered a once common language. Language is very much a part of our cultural identity. It’s what brings us together as former members of the British Empire and helps us stand apart on our own. As a game and a little something fun I’ve compiled a list of words that you may or may not know, touching on social varieties of the English language. And next time you meet a fellow English speaker you can elevate your communications by sharing with them a piece of their home country!

1. bunnychow
a. rabbit food
b. curry
c. lettuce

Country of origin:
2. chum
a. to accompany
b. a boyfriend
c. fish guts

Country of origin:
3. zamboni
a. a pizza folded in half
b. a fictional character
c. ice resurfacer

Country of origin:
4. toilet
a. bathroom
b. washroom
c. washing closet

Country of origin:
5. soda
a. pop
b. fizzy
c. a character in The Outsiders

Country of origin:

Answers:

1. Bunnychow is a South African term for curry, regionally specific to Durban.

2. The first trick question in the bunch as all a, b and c are correct. Chum is to accompany in Edinburgh English, Chum is a boyfriend in Quebecquois English and chum is fish guts most anywhere.

3. A zamboni is an ice resurfacer, mostly seen cleaning the ice between periods at hockey games. I would say it’s a Canadian term, however, the terms comes from the American inventor who designed the machine, so it’s more appropriately a North American term.

4. Toilet is very British. It took me the better part of a year to get comfortable with saying toilet – to me it’s far too vulgar and descriptive a term. I, and most Canadians, would prefer washroom or bathroom. Americans might call it a restroom. Kiwis, so I’m told, aren’t fussed.

5. Another trick question, as again a,b and c are all appropriate. The thing to note here is that soda is an American term. Canadians will say pop. The middle brother in the Outsiders was actually Sodapop. Fizzy seems to be pretty universal outside of North America.

Tags: language