Said I tonight at work, “The kittens are living behind my wheelie bin.”
My assistant manager looked at me. “Your ‘wheelie bin’?”
“You know,” I said, “my wheelie bin.”
“Which is…?”
“The garbage can I push out to the street every week?”
“So, your garbage can.”
“Right. My wheelie bin.”
And then I realized that, like Sherlock Holmes, my font of English has been permanently defiled. In Holmes’ case, it was Americanisms creeping into his speech. In my case, it’s Britishisms creeping in.
Wheelie bin.
Published by Allyn
A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.
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Jolly good! 😀
I used to look down on British English years ago, but then I spent some time there and REALLY got to love it. There’s no reason to fear, Allyn. Enjoy it – and the confusion on the faces of others!
This English term was forced into your vocabulary in trade, for my increasing habit of calling my handbag my “purse”. I’m hoping to make an exchange of “lift” for “appartment” at some point as well.
BTW, it’s just English, not “British English”. I don’t use “Portuguese Portuguese” to distinguish it from “Brazillian Portuguese”. Or “Cantonese Chinese” and “Mandarin Chinese” instead of Cantonese and Mandarin. OK, I will concede to defining my Spanish but that’s because I have better Catalan and Canarian Spanish than I do Castillian Spanish (i.e. “Spanish Spanish”).
Mags, I’ll gladly take “wheelie bin” in trade. I like its poetry. 😉
Frankly, I’d of made fun of you for Wheelie Bin….in fact, I will do so now! :shock::razz::lol::razz::shock:
:eek:Well Iilve in England and have 2 wheelie bins, one for my household rubbish and one for garden waste, It;’s very exciting. One has a brown lid and one has a grey lid so that the waste collectors can tell them apart.
Wheelie bins are really big here. Look out for them on Dr Who!