Tuesday, March 6, 2012

quicko: dockets and coupons

Although I understand it in context, I'd never think to use the word "docket" for "receipt" at the grocery store.  Australians, it seems, would.  There evidently are a few nuances based on personal preference here (some say "dockets" are more for Coles/Woolworths than, say, David Jones or Myer), but I've heard it spoken and seen it written here in reference to receipts.

Furthermore, "coupons" are not known as such -- linguistically or really the clipping variety.  No one here clips coupons -- I don't think there are any to clip.  Possibly some, but it's so uncommon my Australian friends weren't really sure which word to use.  "Voucher" kept coming to mind for them -- a word I, incidentally, detest -- but that's more along the lines of a "gift certificate," which is patently not a coupon.

2 comments:

Caroline said...

I think I'd distinguish between dockets and receipts more on their physical size, and whether they came out of a cash register or were more elaborate.

Laetitia :-) said...

No, we don't tend to get coupons - at least not for discounts the way you do in the USA.

Sometimes the newspaper will have a coupon to clip to get something for $2 or even free (yes, really something for $2 or less). The main daily paper here in Qld was recently offering David Attenborough DVDs with a coupon. Importantly, it's often not possible to get the item without the coupon i.e. there is no 'full price' for it.