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HelpRe: Personalised WHAT? m
in reply to a message by Anneza
I would never in a million years consider earbuds as communal property. I wouldn't want to put something in my body that was already in somebody else's.
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Not the used ones!
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Massive translation issue, I think :)
When the American posters are talking about 'earbuds', they are talking about what Australian and British users (and likely South Africans too) call headphones:
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/617272f8-a82f-4528-8d00-2d9112abc30e_1.254682caea8eff500b5d341d98779b12.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF
In Australia (and I'm assuming other British English speaking places), we call these cotton buds or ear buds and they're used for cleaning your ears:
http://media-poundland.scdn1.secure.raxcdn.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/4/14409_7.jpg
When the American posters are talking about 'earbuds', they are talking about what Australian and British users (and likely South Africans too) call headphones:
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/617272f8-a82f-4528-8d00-2d9112abc30e_1.254682caea8eff500b5d341d98779b12.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF
In Australia (and I'm assuming other British English speaking places), we call these cotton buds or ear buds and they're used for cleaning your ears:
http://media-poundland.scdn1.secure.raxcdn.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/4/14409_7.jpg
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Ha! I want personalized q-tips.
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Curious then, do Australians/Brits have different words for in-ear headphones (earbuds) vs over-ear headphones? Or are they all just headphones? 
This message was edited 2/28/2017, 8:48 AM
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Nope, we call them both headphones. You might specify 'in-ear' or 'over-ear/on-ear' but I honestly have never really been in a situation where I had to specify.
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