Re: muzzies

> I was at an ladies expat brunch one day, and we were
> talking about weather and aircon and things of that
> sort, and one lady (from England, somewhere near
> London I believe, who had lived in Saudi Arabia for
> some years) started talking about how the "muzzies"
> get into the houses through the cracks in the windows.
>  Well, I didn't know what "muzzies" were, so I asked
> and found out that they were mosquitoes.  Now, I
> thought it was interesting that the lady from Scotland
> sitting beside me didn't know what "muzzies" were
> either.  Is this 1.  An affectionate term for
> mosquitoes that only English people in Saudi Arabia
> use or 2.  a term belonging to only a certain dialect
> of England or 3.  Just a word that this one lady
> happened to know but we didn't?
Well, I've never heard `muzzie', but in Australia, we say `mozzie' for mosquito.
And this is something Aussies do all the time with words (and phrases, like
`sicky' from `sick leave', although that's not what it means). I wouldn't call
it an `affectionate' term, tho. `I hate mozzies!' isn't all that affectionate,
is it?

Tristan

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