Something new everyday

Having been here for close to 4 months, I'm now getting my head around a new form of lingo (it's not 'new' per se, but new to me!) - American English. My near-constant daily interaction, coupled with a keen sense of observation has led to the following compilation (well, so far): 1. line v queue 2. stroller v pram 3. parking lot v car park 4. english v metric (which then leads to fahrenheit v celsius, miles v kilometers, pounds v kilograms, ounces v grams, feet v meters, inches v cm. The list goes on..) 5. bangs v fringe 6. cell v mobile 7. street v road 8. shopping cart v trolley 9. vanilla extract v vanilla essence 10. porch v balcony 11. shrimps v prawns 12. ground v minced 13. closet v wardrobe 14. gas station v petrol kiosk 15. mall v shopping centre 16. frosting v icing A lot of the above was discovered as a result of weekly trips to the supermarket. The first time I asked for 200g of fish, the girl behind the counter gave me a look like I was speaking Greek. She totally did not understand what I was saying. I ended up getting a pound, which is approximately 450g. Then another time I asked for 'vanilla essence' but was given a bewildered look and a quick correction after "you mean vanilla exxxtrraaaact". oh ok! And then we know the usual - to-go v take-away, check v bill, zip code v postal code. Even dates are written differently, [month/ day/ year], instead of the usual [day/ month/ year]. I'm slowly getting used to all that. Just over the weekend at Shepard Fairey's show, I discovered a new phrase: 'will-call'. a.k.a advanced tickets. Will call is an American term for a box office where patrons of entertainment venues go to pick up already-bought tickets for an event, such as a play or concert, either just before the event, or in advance. And the history: In the days before the telephone, the phrase "I will call on you" was commonly used to mean that someone will visit you, or speak to you. The phrase has since largely fallen into disuse, with the word "call" being much more commonly associated with the telephone than speaking to someone in person. The term "will call", however, has stuck, and means that the customer "will call on" the company to pick up the tickets or merchandise, as opposed to having the items delivered to them. Anyway, the above list isn't exhaustive and you can be sure I'll be adding more as time goes by!