A young lady who works in my office is Australian, a transfer from our Melbourne office. She is a geologist; very bright, capable and funny. It is interesting to talk to her about her impressions of this strange country she finds herself in. Of course, the fact that her experiences here are mostly in California ups the "strange" quotient, but that can't be helped.
Last week she was sitting in our break room leafing through an office furniture catalog.
"What are you looking for in that 'wish-book'?" I asked her.
She looked at me quizzically, "A wish-book?"
"It's a Southern slang name for a catalog. You page through the catalog, point at things, and say, 'I wish I had that.'"
"Oh. Well, where I grew up we always called them 'dogalogs' - I never knew why."
Then her eyes widened, "Oh! Dogalog - catalog! Of course!"
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