Guides
In Australia, "Girl Scouts" are "Guides." You may or may not be aware, but I'm a co-leader of a Guides unit (what Aussie Guides say when US Girl Scouts say "troop") here in Sydney.
Last night, we went "ten pin bowling," which I'd probably just have called "bowling," but I think that lawn bowling is big in Australia, so there's a distinction made.*
An Australian bowling alley looks pretty much like an American one. I might even file this under "all too familiar," because the bowling alley was AMF, a company I know I've seen in the US as well. Here are three of the girls in my unit at the alley:
Mouse, Mikki, and Megan
One game, Mel (my co-leader) and I played along with the girls. We were all Ms, except I was an Em instead of an M.
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* There are stranger distinctions in Aussie lingo that I don't understand the need for, since we don't use them in American English. For example: "sticky tape" (what I would call simply "tape" or perhaps "scotch tape"). Um, yes, it's sticky, but isn't all tape sticky? Electrical tape and masking tape are not called sticky tape. (I'm well aware of cassette tapes and video tapes, but those types are already modified by "cassette" and "video" to distinguish them from the stickier forms of tape...) Another example: "beetroot." No one says "carrotroot" or "potatoroot," and it's not common to eat any other part of the beet, so what's the deal?
Last night, we went "ten pin bowling," which I'd probably just have called "bowling," but I think that lawn bowling is big in Australia, so there's a distinction made.*
An Australian bowling alley looks pretty much like an American one. I might even file this under "all too familiar," because the bowling alley was AMF, a company I know I've seen in the US as well. Here are three of the girls in my unit at the alley:
Mouse, Mikki, and Megan
One game, Mel (my co-leader) and I played along with the girls. We were all Ms, except I was an Em instead of an M.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* There are stranger distinctions in Aussie lingo that I don't understand the need for, since we don't use them in American English. For example: "sticky tape" (what I would call simply "tape" or perhaps "scotch tape"). Um, yes, it's sticky, but isn't all tape sticky? Electrical tape and masking tape are not called sticky tape. (I'm well aware of cassette tapes and video tapes, but those types are already modified by "cassette" and "video" to distinguish them from the stickier forms of tape...) Another example: "beetroot." No one says "carrotroot" or "potatoroot," and it's not common to eat any other part of the beet, so what's the deal?
posted by Emilie at 4:21 PM
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