Say What?

My children are going to North Carolina next month for a reunion with Greg’s siblings and their families. The timing didn’t work out for me, but I would sure love to see them all. 

I have fond memories of visiting my in-laws in Iowa as a young woman. I had never really been out of the South before. I remember being intrigued by the differences, especially the dialect. They were intrigued by me too. Julie, Greg’s five year old sister, held a party for her friends featuring me and my funny talk as entertainment. I brought down the house saying “skewl” over and over. To Julie, that was comedy at its best. 

I was more interested in the different names of things. For instance, a casserole was called “hot dish”. It didn’t seem to matter what was in it, it was just hot dish, as in, “I’m taking hot dish to the church supper”.

Another one was “tavern”. Greg’s mom asked if I wanted tavern for lunch. Hmmm, I knew she didn’t drink so what was this about. I learned that tavern is the Iowa name for Sloppy Joe. Tavern was lovely for lunch. And it might have been served with “pop”, which I was disappointed to learn was just a “soft drink”. I had heard of soda pop from movies and tv and had always imagined it was some creamy, frothy indulgence. Just a coke, after all.

Now that I’m in Ireland I have really been inundated with new words and different uses of words. If you are a traveler, you are way ahead of me and know these. However, they have taken me by surprise. I know I’ve mentioned some of this before in my blog. But here goes again.

I already knew that a car trunk is a boot and gasoline is petrol. Also that diapers are called nappies. But what I didn’t know is that potato chips are called crisps and French fries are called chips (like English fish ’n chips). That took some getting used to. For a while I had MSPD, multiple spud personality disorder. I was always ordering the wrong thing.

Cookies are called biscuits and the Irish really never have regular buttermilk biscuits so there’s no name for them. They are replaced by scones, which are biscuits with sugar and sometimes fruit. So now I eat biscuits for dessert and scones for breakfast.

The other day I asked Dixie to bring some cream cheese from the store. He looked puzzled. I said, “You know, cream cheese”. We were back and forth a while before it finally dawned on him… “Philadelphia!” Yep, that’s it. The label just says “Philadelphia”. He's never heard of cream cheese. Like Vaseline, the brand has become the product.

Yes, these are good.

Irish bacon isn’t really bacon, but more like Canadian bacon, kind of hammy. After searching long and hard, I found bacon in Aldi labeled “American Style Bacon”, tastefully encased in Old Glory. Life without bacon was sounding dismal. But now that I’ve found it, I find I hardly eat it. Eating bacon alone is like drinking alone. Can be depressing.

It breaks my heart to tell you that there are no Irish words for grits, graham crackers, or corn meal. Can’t be found. No cornbread, No S’mores. Sad. I did, however, locate some soda crackers (saltines to some of you). They are marketed as Italian crackers here. And I've stocked up on grits and graham crackers from home.

Good prices too!

It took a while to figure out the stove/cooker conundrum. A stove in Ireland is not what you’d cook on. It refers to a wood stove in the fireplace that warms you. The "range" (they are not familiar with that word) is a "cooker". Makes sense. But I got funny looks when I mentioned cooking on gas vs. electric stoves. Huh?

Ovens are just ovens, thank goodness.

Both grocery carts and hospital gurneys are called trolleys. So fill your trolley with fruits and veggies or you might end up on one.

Over-the-counter meds were another mystery. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is called paracetamol and packaged as Panadol. Ibuprofen is harder to find. The brands of all our beloved comfort meds are different, like Tums, Bean-o, Gas X (maybe TMI?). I have them mostly figured out though.

It’s all a part of exploring another culture. The names may be different, but we all love our fried potatoes, no matter what they’re called, and we all need relief when we eat too much. When in doubt, I just ask the chemist (pharmacist).