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[guruengerish]

HA! I wasn't going to mention this in these esteemed columns, but we had a secretary from the USA; we were just setting up a new University Dept, and she was in charge of stationery.

So I amble in, and ask her for a few rubbers. (US=erasers) You should have seen the look on her face!

The other side of the world, and I did the same sort of thing in London, when I asked one of the lasses there for a roll of durex. At the time, that was the common name in Oz for transparent sticky tape. Turns out that in the UK, Durex did not come in rolls, but more like small packets

Here's another one for yo' all. I told our US secretary that I had a small hobby farm, and grew my own vegies, etc. "Oh" says she, "Then you're a truck gardener".

It took a while to track that one down - give it a go folks. Hint: try a French dictionary!