Think Australia and north America share a common language? Think again. I remember being blown away by the different use of common terms when I moved to the United States in my early twenties. Although I am a dual Australian-USA citizen most of my life has been spent in Australia. Fresh off the plane to the USA it took me a while before I worked out the nuances necessary to order food in a restaurant without confusing the waiter and/or ending up with the wrong food on my plate. Order an entree sized meal in the USA and you are likely to end up with enough food to feed three people. One-to one translations are just part of the fun of dining in the USA of course. In North Carolina we were told that the vegetable of the day was “apple-cinnamon.”, Nashville restaurants routinely list macaroni and cheese as a vegetable and hamburgers country wide are listed under “sandwiches” on the menu. I’m not even going to try to explain how to order eggs in the US, it’s just too confusing and so much easier to always order “scrambled”. For those Aussies that are State bound anytime soon though, or Americans headed to the Great Southland, the list below might come in handy.
The Australian translation is listed first, followed by the U.S.A translation.
Entrée – Appetizer
Main course – Entrée
Soft drink – Soda, pop, or soda-pop
Lemonade – Sprite or 7 Up
Lemon juice with sugar – Lemonade
Margarita Pizza – Cheese Pizza or Marinara pizza
Spring roll- Egg roll
Tomato sauce – Ketchup
Marinara pizza – Seafood pizza
Biscuit – Cookie
Scone – Biscuit
Chips – French Fries
Bill-Cheque
Have I left any different terms off the list? Let me know in a comment and I will add it on.
For more tips head on over to Suitcases and Sippy Cups or Walking on Travels for their Travel Tips Tuesday.
When I moved to the UK from the US it took a while to train myself to say things like chips instead of fries and crisps instead of chips, and my two kids, even living in the US, say the British way most of the time!
Hi Andrea, How could I forget the chips-crisps translation. I’ll have to add that in too.
Ha! I’ve never even heard of some of these America translations and I’ve lived a lot of places in the USA. Crazy how even regionally there are huge difference. Like in the south soda is called “Coke.” As in “Hey Sue, do you want a coke?” ” yeah sure” “Ok, what kind?” I’m sorry, but Coke is a brand, NOT a type of soda! But when Coca-cola is based in the south I guess that’s what happens. I still call all soft drinks soda or soft drinks though. It’s just easier.
Maybe I need a proviso on this post that much is this is regional. I am trying to remember where I heard all of these but I have traveled widely in the USA and I”m not so sure. I lived in Nashville for a year and I think, when I get back to the south I need to write a whole article on southern dining. Which were the ones you hadn’t heard of?
I made the mistake of thinking that just because I was traveling to another English speaking country that there wouldn’t be any cultural differences. Ha! There’s cultural differences from north to south here, so why would I expect any different from other countries. Great list!