iWriting線上寫作網

每週五，我們要與你分享特別的小故事。

在台灣，我們習慣說垃圾桶是『trash can 』。

但是，來自加拿大的Ian說『garbage can』；來自澳洲的Riana說『rubbish bin』，2個人常常為了垃圾桶該怎麼說而吵架，今天Ian要與你分享這個主題。

別忘了其實在英語用法上，『垃圾桶』也可以有很多種說法喔！當你遇到來自不同國家的朋友時，用他們熟悉的字與他們溝通，會更有親切感喔！

Garbage can vs. Rubbish bin 別為了一個垃圾桶吵架

A lot of things about Australians and Canadians are similar. Our ancestors originally came from England, we like to drink beer, and we all speak English. But some of the words Australians and Canadians use are different.

When Riana and I are in the office, we sometimes use different words for the same thing. An example of a word we can't agree on is the word for 垃圾. I say garbage and Riana says rubbish. I say garbage can and Riana says rubbish bin. We use this word a lot because we share a garbage can/rubbish bin, and we always argue over whose word is right.

Ian說 garbage can

Riana believes that ‘rubbish’ is the best word to describe waste or something she thinks is useless, like my use of the word ‘garbage’. I tell her that she should say garbage because it's much cooler, but she doesn't listen to me. Riana even has an idiom that contains the word rubbish. For example, when she tells me to stop talking rubbish, it means that she thinks I am saying something silly or untrue. She always says that I will never hear a true Australian call rubbish ‘trash’ or ‘garbage’.

Riana說rubbish bin

However, in Canada we don't call garbage rubbish, we call it garbage. And a garbage can is a garbage can, not a rubbish bin. If I use the word rubbish, it's because I'm making fun of Riana. I lived in the United States for five years, and people there always called garbage trash. The difference in words comes from a long time ago when garbage meant food waste and rubbish meant dry waste. Now the word has evolved and each country uses their own word to describe 垃圾. Oh well, it's all garbage to me.

其實都對拉，別吵架囉！

你知道在台灣隨著垃圾車出動時播放的音樂在加拿大和澳洲是什麼時候會聽到嗎？

別驚訝，是夏天時在路上販賣冰淇淋的車的音樂喔！

來聽聽Riana在台灣因為這個音樂所發生的趣事吧！

Riana told me a story about one night when she was walking towards her house in Tianmou and suddenly heard a familiar sound. The sound of the garbage truck made her think of the ice-cream trucks in Australia. Every summer in Canada and Australia, ice cream trucks drive around the cities playing a song so children know they are selling ice-cream. When Riana heard the song from the garbage truck, she was surprised and thought it strange that the ice cream truck was driving around at night. When she went to find the ice cream truck she was surprised to see that they weren't selling ice cream, but collecting garbage.

The garbage collection in Canada and the rubbish collection in Australia are different than here in Taiwan. In Canada and Australia, we put our garbage/rubbish at the end of our driveways once a week for the garbage/rubbish trucks to collect. In Taiwan, a truck drives past my house twice a day playing really annoying music.

下週還有更多有趣的小故事，記得常常回來我們的blog喔