quicko: carer

Today a co-worker asked the spelling of "carer" seeing as Microsoft Word wasn't too crazy about it.  We all concurred on "carer," though it got me thinking that perhaps American English just doesn't really have the word.  It makes sense, but I don't think we really use it all that much.

"What, because no one in America cares for anyone?" another co-worker quipped.

I insisted that some people did, but that we tended to call them more precisely by their precise occupation -- nurse, babysitter, aide, etc. 

And then, minutes later when I'd gone to blog about it, (this is going to get really crazy because we're talking literally seconds ago!) I very casually typed, just after "precise occupation" -- caregiver.  At which point it hit me!  We simply use "caregiver" while Australians use "carer."

Thank goodness I stopped to think things through carefully.