language barriers

I was talking last night to my guy, who happens to live elsewhere. There are some words, we have found, that exist in his world, but not in mine. Last night, we found one in mine that was a mystery to him.

I was telling him about something taking place at the natatorium. He asks me, 'is that what they call it? The natatorium? That's a funny name for a pool.' I went on to explain that 'natatorium' is a generic word for an indoor pool facility. So he goes, 'oh. Here we just call it "the pool".'

Earlier in the conversation, he was more quiet than usual, so I asked if he was sleepy. He paused, then answered, 'no, I'm just tired.' After laughing, I asked if there was a difference between the two. Apparently there is, and all these years I've been using them interchangeably. Shame on ME.