[image title=”Kat Johnston Sketch: Just a girl with bangs.” size=”large” id=”2606″ align=”center” linkto=”default” ]

It is interesting when I notice the differences between how different people will use the English language. For example, in Australia, we would call ‘bangs’ a ‘fringe’ instead. It would be very rare, I think, to say to someone here, ‘Oh, I love your bangs!’ They’d just look at you funny. The same goes for ‘barrette’ (American English) and ‘hair-clip’ (Australian/British English).

In fact, when I first heard the terms, ‘bangs’ and ‘barrettes’, I had to look them up to understand what was meant by the words. I just hadn’t come across them, at least not until I was 13 or 14 or so. The words had been introduced to me in an American young adult fiction book (I was an avid reader), and I was deadly curious about what was meant by these seemingly foreign words.

In recent years, my perception has shifted a little though. Whereas, when I first encountered ‘bangs’ it was just a weird word that other people used to refer to a fringe, I’ve noticed myself thinking the word instinctively now, instead of ‘fringe’ – especially if I’m thinking of blunt bangs, as in the picture for today.

The language we use changes over time, but some things will probably always stay the same. While I may understand the term ‘barrette’, they’ll always be ‘hair-clips’ to me.