Comments on: Canadian versus Australian Coins

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:46:44 +0000

In closing, just for the record, I’m in Adelaide.

By: theprofessionalhobo

theprofessionalhobo — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:40:16 +0000

@Adrian – Funny…I’ve heard many of your characteristic Queensland phrases in Victoria…I guess it’s all about where we are and who we keep company with.

As for trailers, we in North America also call the trailers you picture “trailers”! A tad confusing maybe, but there you go.

PS – LOVE mulberries!

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:21:03 +0000

Offended is way too strong a word.

Your posts on Australian abbreviations are a good example of what I meant. Some of your examples I have never heard (e.g. lappie for laptop, sanger for sandwich, avo for avocardo, bizzo for business), while others are well known as part of the Australian stereotype but actually quite rare at least outside of Queensland/NT (e.g. croc for crocodile, sunnies for sunglasses, bottle-O for bottle shop, smoko for smoke break). Also, you say in one post that Australians pronounce the ‘h’ in the name of the letter H, but most don’t. I do, as it happens, but only because I’m a nonconformist.

Other comments that occur to me trawling through your archives include the observation that pavlova, in my opinion, absolutely must include mulberries because any other fruit is too bland, and – given that you apparently call caravans trailers – a query as to what you would call actual trailers (picture of trailer: http://www.egrtrailers.com.au/photos/Car_Trailers/car-trailer-grey1.jpg)

(Actually I was raised to call the motorised ones caravans and the ones attached to the back of a car campervans, which is the other way around to what Wikipedia says. Odd.)

By: theprofessionalhobo

theprofessionalhobo — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:53:50 +0000

@Adrian – Thanks for weighing in! I know that any picture I have of Oz will be only as good as the frame of reference I have, which certainly can’t always be accommodating of all Aussies or all of Australia. Sorry if that offends you….it’s a travel thing, I guess. I did live in Oz for over a year and a half, and traveled a fair bit around though…

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:04:47 +0000

Actually, come to think of it, “two dollar piece” does sound weird, but “five cent piece” etc also sounds a little bit foreign to me. (Not as foreign as calling “notes” “bills”, but still.) People do use the word, but hardly ever, and there might be demographic factors I can’t speak to. So I suspect your aussie mate was being accommodating, and would ordinarily have said “five cent coin”.

By: Adrian Morgan

Adrian Morgan — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 03:16:43 +0000

Just found this through a whimsical Google search. (You’d think there’d be more sites comparing images of international coins, but anyway…) I’m Australian, and noticed the way you call coins with value less than a dollar “pieces” and coins with value at least a dollar “coins”. I’ve never heard of anyone, anywhere, making that distinction before, and Australians certainly don’t. They’re all coins. (They’re also all pieces, but “coin” is the more common word – can’t remember the last time I heard “piece”.)

Looking around, I see you have more posts about Australian/Canadian differences. Of course, some of these apply to Australians in general, some to just a minority of eccentric Australians, and some to only certain parts of the country. (There are reasons why other Australians think Queenslanders are weird…) I’m sure you know that, in principle, but your grasp of which are which is obviously tenuous. There’s something disconcerting about seeing them all listed together, like seeing a platypus swimming with crocodiles…

By: theprofessionalhobo

theprofessionalhobo — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:26:42 +0000

@Jerry – Thanks for the education! As a born-and-raised Canadian, I hadn’t realized that “dime” wasn’t ours, as everybody calls it so. And I too am flummoxed by the distinct absence of pennies/cents here in Australia (and New Zealand), especially when things are still priced down to the penny/cent!

By: Jerry

Jerry — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:32:10 +0000

Canada doesn’t have a “dime” it’s a ten cent piece. The U.S has a “dime” from the french “Le Disme” Anglisized from the 1792 Birch Half-dimse by Thomas Jefferson. The slang was borrowed and when asked virtully no Canadian can pin down the history (because there wasn’t one). As An Australian/ Canadian I’m a bit curious why Australians can differentiate a “Penny” from a “Cent” when they stopped using the Britsih system in 1966 and Canadians still (incorrectly) call a “Cent” a “Penny” even though they stopped using the Britsih system of Pence in 1858 ?!?!

Curious Mate..

By: theprofessionalhobo

theprofessionalhobo — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:36:50 +0000

@Mark H – Cool: thanks for the info! That makes a whole heap of sense…

By: Mark H

Mark H — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:39:10 +0000

@professionalhobo: The notes are different sizes for the visually impaired. All the same height but they get gradually wider. The blind society seems to indicate that the method works well.