A little help from the Brits

Besides the fun of abbreviations, I’ve found some other interesting language differences. Certain things have entirely different names in Australia. I’ve mainly noticed this with food (shocker!). One of my favorite name changes is “fairy floss”. It’s such a cute name, and really conjures up quite the image. You can imagine that a kid’s imagination would go wild in thinking up how this treat came to be.

Anyway, in the US, it’s just cotton candy. Which, if you think about it, sounds a little unappetizing. Who would want to eat cotton? And, I suppose you wouldn’t want to eat something that a fairy might have flossed her teeth with either, but I was thinking more along the lines of a fairy’s embroidery floss, which is more creative and crafty, and less about hygiene. But what I really love about this is that there is no commonality between the terms cotton candy and fairy floss… unless you involve the Brits. In England, it’s called candy floss. Thus, we have the perfect bridge between the American name and the Australian name. Cotton candy = Candy floss = Fairy floss.  Ta dah!