Re: CHAT: Trans-oceanic word differences // was Education words in various English dialects

On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, John Cowan wrote, quoting myself:

> > I'm told that in America, if you say "shed" without a qualifying
> > adjective, people will assume you mean a garden shed - a little
>
> Correct.  There are exceptions, though.  The Boston Symphony Orchestra
> performs during the summer at a well-known estate about 150 miles from
> Boston, called "Tanglewood".  The building in which they perform is
> generally called "the Shed", and it's big enough to sit about 500 people
> on folding chairs.
My 21st birthday was celebrated in one of the big sheds in the Maitland
Show Grounds, the one for the craft/flower/etc judging.

Which reminds me. 'Show'. There's another language difference.

The festivals that towns and cities hold every year in which the central
purpose is the judging of agricultural produce (best cow, ...) as well as
other competitions of a similar nature, and which are filled with food
stalls and fairground rides and the like - in Australia, these are called
shows.

One of the sheds at a show (a very small shed if it's a country show,
albeit not as small as a garden shed) is dedicated to the selling of show
bags. These are moderately large plastic bags, and every kind of company
that wants to promote itself produces its own particular show bag (it
doesn't have to be a manufacturer - it might be a TV show for example)
inside which there are either chocolate bars or toys or something like
that. Note that a show bag is *nothing* like what Americans call a sample
bag. Firstly they are bigger and secondly they actually contain a
_variety_ of items, being more of a cultural tradition than a means of
commercial promotion (although they're that, too, of course). I've known
Americans who visit Australia to be quite thrilled with the idea.

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