vocabulary

ponderings / north america / vocabulary

i know i have already waffled on a lot about differences - particularly to do with parenting but when i moved here i figured i knew the majority of terminology differences since i'd been on holiday here so much but there were certain vocabulary subtleties which i only discovered a while after living here so i thought i'd mention one.

coupons/gift certificate/coupons/vouchers/coupons/madness!

a few months after we got here i went into a restaurant trying to buy a voucher for that restaurant as a present for my brother in law. it took me 2 people and approximately 10 minutes to get what i wanted because nobody could understand what the hell i wanted. i tried various other terms (none of which i can remember now because i've been so re-programmed). after a long long time and much embarrassment i finally found the magic words 'gift certificate'.

in the supermarket/grocery store i also had problems getting used to coupons instead of vouchers. Coupons seem to be a way of life here. Kellie even has a 'coupon clipper' gadget she spent so much time cutting them out. The amount of junk mail you get here is ridiculous. (This is nothing compared to the number of cold calls you get - but I'll probably complain about them another time!) but it can also be useful. There are whole coupon books that arrive with newspapers. even without the newspapers you get books of coupons sent to you. each week every main brand of supermarket or drug store send a little book advertising that weeks deal's (with coupons). at the supermarket you get given your receipt along with a huge strip of coupons for the products you have just bought to make sure you keep your brand loyalty.
you also swipe your own credit card in grocery stores here (but not in other stores) AND in some stores, if you pay cash, then your change just silently appears in a hidden cup
Within the stores themselves, rather than points accumulation you have loyalty cards which give you different prices than those poor poor people without loyalty cards. Of course you just have loyalty cards for all supermarkets just in case... (and then there's the problem that supermarkets are pretty much the only place you have to slide your credit card yourself) blah blah blah.......