Just for fun!!

Ok, just for fun here's a post on some of the differences in South African English and the way we say things in the US.....I hope you get a kick out of it!!

In the US we say ------- In Cape Town they say....
trunk (as in a car) ------boot
hood (also of the car) -----bonnet
fries (ie french fries) ------chips
chips (ie potato or corn) ----crisps (though sometimes call these chips too?!)
cookies -------------------biscuits (they don't have what we call biscuits here, for instance, I used to love the biscuits at KFC back home, well at KFC here they just don't have them, and they don't have potato wedges either....just the chips (ie french fries)
you're welcome (after thank you) ---------pleasure!
soda or pop or soft drink ----------cool drink (ie coke, pepsi, etc)
diet coke or diet pepsi ---------coke light and pepsi light
to go (ie is your order for here or to go?) -----take away (is your order dine in or take away?)
barbeque ----------------braai
ground beef ----------------mince
what's up? or what's going on? -------------- howzit?
really? or for real? -------------is it? (Rolf says this is short for "is it true?")
right now ----------------now now
in a little bit ---------------just now
no way ------------------no ways (the "s" on the end just makes me giggle)
catsup or ketchup --------------tomato sauce
candy ----------------------sweets or sweeties
gas or gasoline ---------------petrol
gas station -----------------garage (though they don't do car repairs)

other funny differences...
- chili is not a soup here, its a sauce they would put over rice or pasta, but never serve in a bowl as a soup
- you can't buy a bag of chocolate chips, they come in small boxes or even smaller plastic containers, you'd have to buy several of them to equal a small bag of chocolate chips in the US
- here there's a South African tea called rooibos, so if you order tea, even at someones house, they ask if you want "normal or rooibos?" - normal being English tea
- you can't use your credit or debit card to pay for petrol, you have to use cash or they have gas cards
-all garages are full service, you don't fill up your own tank here, and you tip the guy who fills up your car....they will also check your oil and water levels and put in if you need...and usually wash your front and back windows
- at most shopping malls and tourist areas there is someone who will watch your car for you, you just either pay them at the beginning or tip them when you leave
- where there are parking garages, a machine issues you a ticket at the beginning, then when you leave, there are pay machines before you go to your car where you put in your ticket, it calculates how much you owe, then you put the money in the slots and it imprints your ticket and gives it back to you. Then when you drive out, there's another machine like the one that gave you the ticket that you slip your ticket into again and it moves the arm up so you can exit. Its a great system, I don't know why they don't use them in the US instead of having a person there at the end taking your money.....its much quicker and efficient

So that's all I can think of at the moment....I'll post more if I remember them....hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the culture! =:)