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Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Australian and New Zealand English: doona and thongs

Donna is a word which cropped up today in a video on how to put on a doona cover. I could see what it is.

 In England we would call it a duvet, which is a French word. I remember when I first learned the word duvet, probably in the nineteen Sixties or Seventies. Before that we had quilts. According to the online dictionaries, doona is an Australian word.

I have previous posts on words which are different in Australia and New Zealand and England, such as sheila (a female in Australia), thongs (sandals with toe posts in Australia) but called flip-flops in England, where thongs are ladies' underwear or bikini bottoms with a string at the back.

Angela Lansbury, BA Hons, English language teacher, teacher of public speaking, blogger, travel writer, author and speaker.

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