Angaston, South Australia: You found a store called what?

I’ve written a lot about the differences between American and Australian dialects of the English language.

There’s a lingerie store in San Luis Obispo, California, where we lived for a dozen years, named Fanny Wrappers. When our Aussie friend Hamish first walked down Higuera Street and saw the store he did a double take, then whipped out his cell phone, took a photo of the store, immediately forwarded it to friends Down Under, and said, “No one back home will believe this.”

Why? What was so surprising about the name.

Well, in America a fanny is an innocent term for a woman’s rear end. Her buttocks. Her heinie. In Australia a fanny is a female anatomical feature that is, shall we say, very nearby and uniquely female.

American children carry fanny packs to school. Australian children definitely do not.