Quote:
Originally Posted by MrPLD
Aaah, mixed word hilarity happens to many of us cross-continental travellers. Here in Australia a "thong" is something you wear on your feet... aka "flipflops" in other countries. Of course, when I went to South African and asked rather loudly in a department store where their "thongs" were "for my feet" they couldn't help but look at me in a perverted-weirdo way.
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When I was growing up in Chicago (and since we're speaking about accents, you must pronounce it "shi-KEAH (to rhyme with yeah- couldn't think of another way to write that!)-go), we called them thongs too. I think my sister still does. Here in Hawai'i, we call them "slippers" (not to be confused with house slippers, but don't know a lot of people with those). You can always spot the tourists at Walmart, asking where the "flip-flops" are!
It's really amazing, over the course of a lifetimes, how much additional regional vocabulary you can learn from other countries as well as many other places closer to your own home.