Another Aussie-ism: plates

Gye Greene and The Lady are at work. I just checked the mailbox, and there was an invitation to the local Neighborhood Watch group.

When this group was first formed -- after a series of residential burglaries in the area -- the invitation said to ''please bring a plate.'' GG and myself both thought that asking people to bring their own plate was remarkably environmental -- although we wondered why bringing one's own cup was not also specified.

However, The Lady informed us that ''bring a plate'' actually means to bring some food!!! -- specifically, a plate -- with food on it! Ahhh...

Upon some thought, this is not terribly different from the U.S. expression to ''bring a dish'' or ''bring a hot dish''. Yet, somehow I did not make the connection.

We did not end up attending -- but if we had, it might have been embarassing! (Although we could have made the excuse that we are but Americans.)


What made me think of this is that today's invitation specifies ''Please bring a plate of food for supper.''

Much clearer. :)


--TG