Hiker rescued from trail

I commented in a recent column (see below) on the steady creep of American English. I gave as an example the increasing usage of the word “trail” in preference to the traditional New Zealand “track” and I speculated that in time, “tramper” could be overtaken by the American equivalent, “hiker”.

It’s happening even quicker than I expected. On TVNZ’s Breakfast programme this morning, which I’d tuned into for the Obama inauguration, Peter Williams read a news item about a woman hiker from Adelaide who had been rescued after spending nine days in a hut - or perhaps that should have been cabin - near Wanaka.

Incidentally, I thought Obama’s speech was just swell.