Last night I was talking to Carmel and we were discussing some words we use in the Philippines and their counterparts here in the American English language. You see, it's quite common for Filipinos to use the most popular brands of products as names of the items. For example, "cutex" for nail polish, "frigidaire" for refrigerator, "mighty bond" for super/ instant glue, or "xerox" for photocopy, just to name a few.
Add in the fact that I have to unlearn the British English terms (i.e. lift- elevator, rubbish- trash, serviette- table napkin, queue- line-up, torch- flashlight) I picked-up while I was living in Singapore for almost a year, Carmel predicted that I would eventually get blank stares when I look for some items here. Good friend that she is *sarcasm*, we went through (with her laughing throughout the whole conversation) a list of common items that are called differently in the US.
Bond paper - Copy paper
Ballpen - pen
Pentel pen - marker
Stabilo - highlighter
Liquid paper - wipe out
Feminine napkin - sanitary pad
Oslo paper - card stock (although this probably not accurate)
Mighty Bond - crazy glue
Long bond paper - legal copy paper
Short bond paper - letter copy paper
Folder - manila folder
post it - sticky notes
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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