Antifreeze, scrapple, and other language barriers

     I am at a small table in the dining hall, sitting with a few friends when it occurs to me the Powerade I am drinking is the bluest I've ever seen. I joke,
     "This Powerade is really good but it looks like antifreeze!"
     Total silence.
     Someone, finally: "The hell is antifreeze?"

     This I consider the moment I knew I wasn't in Pennsylvania anymore.  I was expecting the heat, the mountains, the citrus trees. I knew I would have to start over and make new friends.  What I hadn't anticipated was having to define and explain things every day to people who lived in the same country and spoke the same language as me.  "Antifreeze" is just another noun to me.  It was like if someone had looked at me side-eyed and said "What the hell is a cloud?"

     But at least explaining antifreeze doesn't sound crazy.  West Coast-ers may have trouble imagining the weather being cold enough to need such a thing, but it makes sense that we would have it.  Now try explaining things like scrapple.  If you've ever had it, you know it's a breakfast food akin to a sausage patty.  Whether or not you have a taste for it, you know it's just another food.  Try explaining the concept of scrapple to someone who has never heard of it without sounding like chapter five of "The Jungle".  You can't.  At the very least, every sentence will be sandwiched with "But it's good, I swear!"

Other words that have made people look at me funny:

• Wawa
• Philly
• Amish
• Snowplow
• Hoagie
• and "I've never been to Costco"

(Have you ever had a moment like this? Should I hop on the Costco train? Got opinions on scrapple? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!)