"SEPARATED BY A COMMON LANGUAGE..." Idioms of English Speaking Countries

I wouldn't say it's a commonly used term at able2know. In fact, Australians are the only ones i've ever seen use the term, so i've long suspected that it's a regional obsession. I won't use "Ozzian" if you find it offensive. However, Ozzian is pronounceable, whereas "US-ian" doesn't seem much like a word that could be used in conversation. How would you pronounce that word?

I really don't want to dominate this thread with this issue. So I'll leave it here, if that's OK, Setanta. Neither term bothers me at all.

It's not nonsense to all the non-USians pissed off by being ignored and American generally referring to USians only.

So, up your arse with a piece of glass, as we say in Oz.

My two closest co workers are from Mexico and Ecuador. They use 'stilston' interchangeably for pipe wrenches and crescent tools. Confused me at first, but now it's no problem.

We use the term STillson wrench whenever we talk about a pipe wrench (also known as the Monkey wrench). Crescents and stillsons all have a similar structure witha screw vise on a bar.

I was working with a company in MAnchester years ago and they kept using the word "BIRO". I later found out that it was a term for a ballpoint pen.

We had some Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry with us and we suggested we go down "the cross" (Kings Cross) where we had a window seat in a pub and could watch the wierdos go by.....we said "want to come down to the cross with us for a perve "? They got up and walked away. Apparently they use a perve as short for a pervert, a homosexual....we use it as a verb, meaning to watch for a long period at something sexual.

you-say-e-ans...same number of syllables.

I was pronouncing it U-Es-Ay -ee-ans everytime I read it.
I call myself American, but that doesn't mean that I don't think anyone else who lives in North, Central or South America are not allowed to call themselves American if they want to- the terms is open to anyone who wants to use it, I'd say.

I think the reason it is used primarily by people who live in the USA on the North American Continent, is because people from Mexico say they're Mexican - people from Brazil say they're Brazilian - people from Canada say they're Canadian- they reference themselves by the country of their birth - and as far as I know - the United States of America - is also commonly known as America and that is the country of my birth. That's all I mean when I say it.

I have never used the word 'sofa'. I use the word couch.
I also never say, 'We're having a barbecue' - I say 'We're having a cook-out.'
Which means the same thing - we are cooking outside on the grill.
I do use barbecue as a noun - as in the sort of meat marinated in barbecue sauce and slow cooked that you get in North Carolina or Texas.

One idiom I got from my Mom and Dad is: help your plate or fix your plate,' and people - even in the north in America (or sorry, the USA) where I grew up would say, 'Help my plate? Fix my plate? Is it broken?' and they'd look at me so strange. I was saying, 'Please feel free to choose the food you'd like and put it on your plate.' I think this is an idiom specific to the south.

My mother used to call every refrigerator a 'frigidaire.' We would just laugh at her.

Some in my family still call the refrigerator an ice box.

I called it an ice-box for years and years. Again, influenced by my parents who really did grow up with an ice box.

here in the southwest non-hispanics often refer to norte americanos as "anglos" though they might be french/italian/greek/german or whatever.

I don't think there is a word for American citizens. Most people (certainly here) refer to citizens (and residents) of the United States as Americans. I don't think that many folks in this hemisphers are confused by the appelations, as Mexicans, Brazilians, Clileans, even Canadians etc are fond of calling themselves by those names. Outsiders who exert extra effort to force a distinction are usually found to be mildly offensive in their intent.

In London I've, more often than not, been referred to as a "yank," to which I've generally taken offense. When we stayed in Amsterdam the last time, the hotel staff consistently called me "the texan."

That sounds very Philadelphia in origin. True?

There are lots of unique regional usages as other have noted, in America, Australia and the UK. Growing up in southern Michigan I knew railroad bridges as "viaducts", something that seems fairly odd to me now.

I could be having a brain fart but are there places other than Australia that are both a country and a continent?

It's not a 100% correlation, but a lot of people I know refer to foreigners by their continent (or large region) of origin - not their country of origin. "there is a good South American restaurant at ...", "there were three Eastern European workers", etc. Australians are Australians. Nothing else to go by. In my circle that would refer to their continent of origin - not the country. It seems the Australian posters here think of that label (Australian) as being country-based, not continent-based. Soooooooo, they're trying to find a country label for U. S. residents. Mebbe.

On the USian thing. I "see" it as us - eee - an, and have always thought it a bit rude.

last night, travelling home on the subway, I recommended a book to a stranger as it's about the building of the viaduct we were travelling under - and that he was describing to the tourists he had with him. Since everyone in our little group knew the term, I thought it was standard usage until I read your post.

The ice man used to deliver ice up our street, but my step father always went to the rail yard, where box cars were receiving ice from conveyor belts. The pieces that fell to the ground were left to melt. He would grab one or two great chunks and bring them home to put in our ice box.

That's interesting ebeth. It may be that the usage continues in the Northeast & Canada. Since then I've lived in Texas, Florida, Virginia, California, Washington, Colorado, Washington DC and California - never heard it in any of those places. I wonder where it originated?

so, who here stands IN line, and who stands ON line


i stand in line

viaduct is related to the latin word aqueduct