Originally Posted by
Yaatri
In my experience too.
I can wager that people who grew up with internet would have no idea of what "post" is/was.
American terminology has won over Imperial terminology even in some parts which were a part of the Empire.
Awl (straight pin) pin. try finding awl pin the the U.S. I can't find any on the internet too.
Drawing pin--Thumb tack
To this day, I haven't been given a reliable explanation of what #2 pencil is. I gave up and assumed that it's the same thing as 2B.
Fool's cap size paper (Very frequently mispronounced as full scap(e))---roughly legal size in the U.S.
Rubber--- eraser.
I wonder how many people know what a holder or a nib is.
The bolded caused quite a scene one afternoon when I was a student, in the library. A young man approached a young lady and asked her if she had a rubber (meaning -- I hope -- an eraser). She took it in the common American slang meaning of the term, looked horrified, got up, and left. The young man looked thoroughly confused. Poor guy. When we told him what the American meaning of what he had said was, he blushed from head to toe, was utterly embarrassed, and returned to his study carrel, where he hid his head in his hands, more or less for the rest of the semester.
