So below is a list of words I have compiled and of course, a discussion about them.  (Hey! I’m a PhD student.  It’s what we do.)  These words are used for the same thing in both Kiwi and American English.  The Kiwi word or phrase comes first followed by the American word or phrase.  See what you think too. 🙂

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In transportation:

amber vs. yellow (stoplights): for one thing, “amber” is much more poetic than the mere “yellow”…

footpaths vs. sidewalks: on this one, I’m a bit divided because the word “footpath” makes me think of a dirt forest path meandering through the trees.  There’s birdsong and dappled sunlight overhead and I feel the cool breezes blowing across my…[screech!] Alright, alright.  I’ll admit it: for some unbelievably strange reason, this word takes me to my happy place.  On the other hand, “sidewalk” fits because it is both on the side of houses and buildings (or if not on the side, it is at least outside them) and it is where we walk.  Both are accurate.  One, however, is more whimsical while the other suggests straight and concrete edges.  (To me, at least.)

Windscreen vs. windshield: Except when I’m in conversation and quickly trying to translate “windshield” to “windscreen” without causing a break in the sentence (which I’m almost never able to do because I find that “windscreen” does not quite roll off my tongue like “windshield” does), there seems to be virtually no difference between these two other than the sound of the hard “c” in “windscreen” rather than the soft “sh” sound of “windshield.”  Otherwise, they both conjure up the same image and effectively use the synonyms “screen” and “shield”.

Of course, anytime I use the word “screen” I automatically think of the grey metal screen on our back door in the house I grew up in.  I used to stand at that door looking out while glued to the phone that hung on our kitchen wall.  Ah, the happy, bygone days of phoning friends on land lines!  Perhaps then “windscreen” should bring up more nostalgia for me than it actually does…

boot vs. trunk: Okay, on this one, I think the American has it.  In English, a trunk is something that holds something else, whether it’s on a car, an elephant, or a big box packed with stuff bound for the attic or a trip, you pretty much know what a trunk is and does.  Unless the word is being used as a euphemism for a woman’s posterior; aka, The Black Eyed Peas with “My Humps”.  On that, I got nothin’.

A boot on the other hand, is not readily accessible in English since it can be something you wear on your feet, something you give someone (i.e., “she gave him the boot and he was outta there”), or something on the back of a car.  “Boot” bears explanation, whereas a “trunk” holds its meaning therein (hah! no pun intended).  A “boot” has such wildly divergent definitions, it seems to become slang for all of its meanings, except the thing you wear.  But that’s just me.

In sports:

“Who’s ahead?” or “Who’s doing well?” vs. “Who’s winning?”:  This distinction is usually made in cricket.  While I know next to nothing about the game, I learned this when I said, “Who’s winning?” to my friend’s father who was watching it on TV.  He patiently explained that that question – which I took from baseball – does not apply in cricket because things can change in the game so quickly.  The team you think is “winning” may very well not be at all.

Hmm.  Sounds like me on this PhD; one step ahead, five steps back…

So there you have it, just a few words that make these two forms of English worlds apart when trying to communicate.  It’s different Down Undah!

This post is No. 1 in a series.

If the reader is interested in more about communication break-downs and hick-ups in daily experiences living abroad, check out my other blog on WordPress, “Sherrema’s Shenanigans”, on which I write the Anti-American Sentiment Chronicles.