indri | Help with English variants wanted! And info on jeeps.

nwhepcat is kindly betaing my fic at the moment and what's become apparent is that I sometimes muddle my slanguages. Scots, English, Strine and American---I keep getting them confused.

So I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for the following:

(i) hoon noun 1. a fast, reckless driver of a car, boat, etc. 2. a speedy drive; a fang: going out for a hoon tonight. 3. a hooligan; a lout. This is Aussie slang but I need Brit or US. I'll just use some dull synonym unless someone knows of a word connoting reckless speed.

(ii) bodega

nwhepcat tells me this is the term I need but I'm not comfortable with it as it's not a standard part of my vocabulary. Is the term "convenience store" sufficiently dialect-neutral? I think "corner shop" is largely British and "deli" and "milk bar" are Australian.

(iii) bogie A railroad car or locomotive undercarriage. I can't use this with a straight face, as "bogie" is Scots (and English?) slang for congealed snot. I'd prefer something less polysyllabic than "railroad car" or "locomotive undercarriage" though. Will everyone understand me if I write "rail-car"?

(iv) Frosties It's "Frosties" in one country and "Frosted Flakes" in another. Does it matter which I go for? This is Spike POV, so I figure either UK or US brandnames would be OK.

And also---

(v) jeeps Are these manual or automatic transmission vehicles?

Thanks, all. I may have more slightly daft questions tomorrow.

UPDATE 9:30pm Just got back from dinner with the SO (mm, congee), who kindly explained to me all manner of things about jeeps and gears. I am OK now for jeep knowledge.

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A few comments from a (mostly) American perspective:

(ii) bodega nwhepcat tells me this is the term I need but I'm not comfortable with it as it's not a standard part of my vocabulary. Is the term "convenience store" sufficiently dialect-neutral?

I would go with convenience store, myself. I think bodega is kind of regional, since I have a very hard time imagining it being a commonly used term in, say, the Midwest. (Of course, it may be regionally appropriate to your story, too, so that's worth considering.) I think convenience store is the most neutral.

(iv) Frosties It's "Frosties" in one country and "Frosted Flakes" in another. Does it matter which I go for? This is Spike POV, so I figure either UK or US brandnames would be OK.

Well, if I read "Frosties" I'd have no idea that it referred to Frosted Flakes, unless context made it perfectly clear. I normally think of a "Frosty" as a shake, or if Spike said it I might think he was talking about beer. I rarely associate cold cereal with Spike. ;)

Having never driven a Jeep, and having no idea what to suggest as a synonym for "hoon", that's all I can offer at the moment.

"Bodega" is regionally appropriate to my story but I don't want to use the word because I only just learnt what one is.

"Frosties" as beers, yes that makes sense.

I rarely associate cold cereal with Spike.

Whereas my website is called "Blood and Weetabix".

Mmm, Weetabix. Time for my breakfast, I think.

I'm with 'plin on "convenience store". I'd also know what you mean if you said "corner store" or (heh) "the local Stop 'n' Rob". Now and then you'll hear a reference to a "mom and pop" store, typically in this context:

"I'll run down to the store to get some."
"What store? The Safeway's across town!"
"No, no. That little convenience store on the corner. That mom-and-pop market."

As far as "bogie" - I'd be inclined to say box-car, although that implies a transport car with sliding doors, rather than a passenger car. If you are talking about someone trying to get to a specific location on a passenger train, "rail-car" or "coach" might work. If your person was hunkered down in the train tracks trying not to get decapitated, I'd want him to wait until the "box-cars" stopped rumbling overhead.

"Frosties" - in context, I'd get it. If Spike were asking Dawn for some "Frosties", she'd probably say, "Huh?" and he'd have to explain. She'd get it in a second.

Hmm. You asked slightly daft questions. I've given you incredibly daft answers. Honest, I only want to help.

It's definitely a goods train, not a passenger train. Apparently there are no passenger rail services at all in Uganda.

"Box-car" will work for some of it---thank you!

OK, no Frosties.

I thought you needed a synonym for "booger".

And Americans have a great capacity for blandly ignoring
trademarks. All sodas are "Cokes", all tissues "Kleenex"
copiers "Xerox", and convenience stores tend to be "7-11".
Nowadays most self-serve gas stations have an all night
convenience store attached.

What *Spike* would call something---hm.

Hee! The great soda debate...it's so regional. "Coke" in the south, "pop" in the mid-west, "soda" in the west. I'm not sure what it is in the east. Plus nobody can stay put, so you have pops meeting and marrying sodas. Luckily the offspring drink Red Bull.

I grew up saying "fizzy drink" but in South Australia it's usually "soft drink".

I wonder what forces select which words will have so many variants.

I was using 7-11 as a synonym for convenience store in my story, but this turns out to not to fit the period.

It's a minefield!

Help with English variants wanted! And info on jeeps.

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