For instance, this post taught me that Americans don’t use the word budgie
, preferring the usage parakeet
.
I don’t know why I’m so bemused by this. Maybe it’s because I’ve always considered budgies and parakeets to be two different birds, with the latter being crested and the former not. I guess it’s similar to my reaction (several years ago) when I discovered that, not only are most Americans unfamiliar with the word serviette
, but that the distinction in my head between that and a napkin
(namely, the former is always made of paper and hence disposable; cloth serviette
sounds very off to me) is not universally recognized by other Canadians.
For the moral of this story, let’s throw it over to Alice in Wonderland:
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’