Sweetlip
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2002
- Messages
- 70
Hi my American friends;
Us Aussies are pretty well au fait with American culture because we are swamped with American TV shows and movies.
Nonetheless, every now and then I get a bit confused about American jargon. Can anyone explain a few things to me, please?
1. What is a drug store? I thought that they must be a pharmacy which sells prescription medicines but I have heard that such is not the case. Help?
In Australia, a pharmacist or "chemist shop" sells much more than just medicines these days, selling every thing from cosmetics to toilet paper and washing-up detergents as well as dispensing prescription medicines.
What is the American situation, please?
2. At a restaurant, what do you call the main course. Here we call it the main course but I think (?) that you call it the entree which is what we call the smaller portion component of the meal before the main course - which I think that you call an appetiser. All guidance gratefully received.
3. Does the tipping regime in the USA confuse you and annoy you? Tipping is not a usual practice in Australia although it is done infrequently. In my career, I used to fly interstate every single week of the year, staying in five star hotels, dining out every night and using taxis all the time. Many times, I have done that without a single cent in my pocket, relying on credit cards for all payments and paying no tips as is our custom. When I have spent a week in America on business a few years ago, it seemed to me that everyone carried around rolls of paper money. Is that usual? Is it so that there are always small notes for tips?
4. Not wearing my reading glasses, I mistakenly handed over a $100 note to a Cable Car conductor in San Francisco, thinking that I was handing over a $10 note. Does the fact that all USA notes are the same size and color confuse you? How do blind people cope? In Australia we have different sizes and denominations of our paper money (Which is actually plastic) and it works very well. RBA: Notes in Circulation
They probably seem like silly questions but I would love to understand you guys a bit better.
Best wishes ..............
Us Aussies are pretty well au fait with American culture because we are swamped with American TV shows and movies.
Nonetheless, every now and then I get a bit confused about American jargon. Can anyone explain a few things to me, please?
1. What is a drug store? I thought that they must be a pharmacy which sells prescription medicines but I have heard that such is not the case. Help?
In Australia, a pharmacist or "chemist shop" sells much more than just medicines these days, selling every thing from cosmetics to toilet paper and washing-up detergents as well as dispensing prescription medicines.
What is the American situation, please?
2. At a restaurant, what do you call the main course. Here we call it the main course but I think (?) that you call it the entree which is what we call the smaller portion component of the meal before the main course - which I think that you call an appetiser. All guidance gratefully received.
3. Does the tipping regime in the USA confuse you and annoy you? Tipping is not a usual practice in Australia although it is done infrequently. In my career, I used to fly interstate every single week of the year, staying in five star hotels, dining out every night and using taxis all the time. Many times, I have done that without a single cent in my pocket, relying on credit cards for all payments and paying no tips as is our custom. When I have spent a week in America on business a few years ago, it seemed to me that everyone carried around rolls of paper money. Is that usual? Is it so that there are always small notes for tips?
4. Not wearing my reading glasses, I mistakenly handed over a $100 note to a Cable Car conductor in San Francisco, thinking that I was handing over a $10 note. Does the fact that all USA notes are the same size and color confuse you? How do blind people cope? In Australia we have different sizes and denominations of our paper money (Which is actually plastic) and it works very well. RBA: Notes in Circulation
They probably seem like silly questions but I would love to understand you guys a bit better.
Best wishes ..............
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