Tissues/Kleenex

<<You must call it something, Candy. >>

Well, not really. I never have a reason to talk about one. But I wrote I'd probably say 'drinking fountain' if I needed to.

So you don't hang out by the bubbler, gossiping and wasting time like other people, well like I, have been know to do.

<<So you don't hang out by the bubbler, gossiping and wasting time like other people, well like I, have been know to do. >>

Unfortunately not, Terry! I don't work in an office, but at a language school, and we don't have a water thingy - we have coffee and bottled water in all the classrooms for the teachers and students. I do in fact spend my working time gossiping, with my students (but of course it's fine because they learn lots of English that way!) :-)

Ah ha! Water thingy. I knew it had to have a name. :)

<< I do in fact spend my working time gossiping, with my students (but of course it's fine because they learn lots of English that way!) :-) >>

Escuses, excuses. :) Hey I like your smiley better than mine. :-) There.

<<BTH, I used to call the Scottish, "Scotch," until you wised me up. :)>>

Is that common in America? I've heard it criticised on the Internet, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually call the Scottish "Scotch". Sounds like a kind of whiskey.

<<(Tim Tams are an Australian chocolate biscuit of the very finest kind. I understand Americans have nothing equivalent because there idea of a chocolate "cookie" is a biscuit with cocoa in it, like an Oreo. Oreos are meant to be the most popular American (chocolate) "cookie", and if they are, you have my sincerest pity.) >>

Well, from the Google picture I saw, your Tim-Tam just looks like a rectangular cookie dipped in chocolate. We have cookies dipped in chocolate, too.

Oreos are okay, but nothing special. We have much better chocolate cookies than that.

But speaking of chocolate chip cookies, the best is white chocolate - macadamia. Hands down.

<<Well, from the Google picture I saw, your Tim-Tam just looks like a rectangular cookie dipped in chocolate. We have cookies dipped in chocolate, too. >>

Oi! a Tim Tam is *not* a "cookie". That aside, the inside isn't just a normal biscuit, and the inside is very much important to the taste. Calling it a regtangular "cookie" dipped in chocolate makes it sound like a chocolate teddy-bear biscuit (except rectangular). It's not like a chocolate teddy-bear biscuit.

In Britain, people going out on cold days might take a "thermos" flask with them rather than a vacuum flask. I think I read somewhere that "aspirin" used to be a trademark before it lost it through overuse. A few years ago people used to talk about their "ansaphone" message before "voicemail" became popular.

As someone has already mentioned, "xerox" seems to be a popular verb in the US for photocopying. People recently have started to use "google" as a verb for any type of internet search. I can't think of any other word for "polyfilla" (spackle in the US) other than its brand name.

<<In Britain, people going out on cold days might take a "thermos" flask with them rather than a vacuum flask>>

"Thermos" is used here in Oz too. And I might've also mentioned "esky", but I might not've, which is a box designed to keep things cold. They call them "chilly bins" in NZ, I don't know of that's the international standard...

<<Is that common in America? I've heard it criticised on the Internet, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually call the Scottish "Scotch". Sounds like a kind of whiskey. >>

Yes it is a kind of whiskey but I did used to call the Scottish, "Scotch" and so does almost everyone I know. So now when I hear my friends use it I can tell them it's not right. I've become so cosmopolitan since posting on this forum. :-)

<<Yes it is a kind of whiskey but I did used to call the Scottish, "Scotch" and so does almost everyone I know. So now when I hear my friends use it I can tell them it's not right. I've become so cosmopolitan since posting on this forum. :-)>>

Don't call us ''the Scotch''. We get offended by it.

<<In Britain, people going out on cold days might take a "thermos" flask with them rather than a vacuum flask>>

We call it a "thermos" too, Rick, but without the flask attached, just plain old thermos.

<<People recently have started to use "google" as a verb for any type of internet search.>>

I've been using google as a verb for about two years. I didn't realize it was new.

<<"Thermos" is used here in Oz too. And I might've also mentioned "esky", but I might not've, which is a box designed to keep things cold. They call them "chilly bins" in NZ, I don't know of that's the international standard...>>

"Chilly bins" sounds like something you'd come down with. "Poor Trish, she's got a terrible case of the "chilly bins," hope it isn't catching.:-)

Seriously, we call our cold boxes coolers. I've heard some people call them Colemans, a brand name.

Where does "esky" come from? Is it a brand?

BTW Felix I love the way you call yourself from OZ. I've never heard that term for Australia. Is it common there?

<<Yes it is a kind of whiskey but I did used to call the Scottish, "Scotch" and so does almost everyone I know. So now when I hear my friends use it I can tell them it's not right. I've become so cosmopolitan since posting on this forum. :-)>>

Maybe this is prominent usage where you are from Terry, but it seems strange to me. I've never called those from Scotland anything but Scottish and occasionally, "Scots." Is this one as offensive as "Scotch"?

<<I've been using google as a verb for about two years. I didn't realize it was new.>>

Google only started in about 6 years ago, so it was a relative new-comer to the internet. It's probably only in the last 2-3 years that it's gained dominance and been used as a verb.