More things Americans don't have

I have tonsilitis. So I went to the pharmacy, that is to say, to the supermarket. Every supermarket has a small pharmacy built in with a proper pharmacist on duty for prescriptions and a small range of non-prescription medicines etc. Conversely, there are stand-alone pharmacies, not usually shop-fronts in malls but free-standing buildings. Having so much floor space, they are led to stock all manner of snack foods, cleaning products, alcohol, you name it! One of the rare occasions I was in one of those, I overheard someone ask if they sold ping-pong balls, and the shop assistant told them which aisle! Anyway, maybe I should have gone to a huge pharmacy because my supermarket pharmacist had never even heard of Betadine gargle. The only iodine he had was for cuts etc. and I don't feel like risking that. And they don't have anything like Butter Menthols either, so I have to make do with honey-lemon flavoured stuff.

In other news, yesterday Cindy's professor made fun of her for saying "poo"; he seemed to think that "poop" is the only acceptable variation in these parts. A quick Google search confirmed that "poop" is far more common in America but the only site that had these under dialect comparisons said that both are acceptable anywhere. I'll have to run it past my friends next time we're down at the pub.