Do you say what you mean!
Do you say what you mean!
Geographical Language
As our world shrinks in the sense of our power to communicate via mass media methods, the concept of a Geography of Language becomes more and more relevant. The readily availability of mass communication brings advantages but equally disadvantages, the words and phrases we use to describe an object, action, feeling or emotion can create cross cultural embarrassment or even an impression of rudeness. There are many words which in one culture are perfectly innocent yet when transferred to another cultures norms become potential “foot in Mouth” situations.
(put your foot in it (MAINLY US put your foot in your mouth) INFORMAL
to say something by accident which embarrasses or upsets someone:
I really put my foot in it with Alison. I had no idea she was divorced)
Here are some (all be they humorous) potential danger zones:
A Rubber, In England a rubber is a pencil eraser, however in the USA Rubber is a condom, (Imagine the situation of asking for a rubber in an American stationary store).
A Lucky Dog, In China a lucky dog is a happy fortunate and deserving person. In England (as much as we British love our dogs) to call anyone a dog be they lucky or not is an insult meaning the person is useless. There are expressions in England like “you dirty dog” and “you look dog rough”, “a dogs breakfast” for example describes something which is a useless mess. Even flowers deemed too small and common get the same treatment (Dog Daisy, Dog Rose).
A Flower or Butterfly, Again in china these two words refer to a pretty girl “she’s the flower of the class” or “she’s the class butterfly”. In England a girl called a flower is thought to be common, low class of easy virtue. A Butterfly is someone who can’t or won’t concentrate or stick to one thing, always moving from one pleasure to another (including boyfriends).
A Grass is a handsome boy in China but in England it means a police informer (someone who grasses on someone else for financial gain). They are considered un-trustworthy as a friend and not a good person.
A Cock in India and china as well as many other countries in the East is a male chicken, but beware in the West a cock is another name for the penis. (Consider for a moment my shock when one of my Chinese students told me that he enjoyed eating cock).
Some words are now avoided in day to day language simply because their true meaning has been corrupted or adopted as a name for something else,
Battle axe: a derogatory term for a woman.
Gay: Homosexual.
Queer: Homosexual.
Dyke: Female homosexual. ( a dyke or dike is the name for a kind of dam or construction to hold back a large area of water).
Bird, Chick, Hen, Cow; all derogatory terms for women.
Pig: someone who is fat and/or dirty and eats too much.
Plank: a stupid man.
Dip stick: an idiot.
Dwarf, Stunt: a person of reduced height.
As a slight aside but a good example of considering what you say, I always remember the famous Cricket commentary where at the beginning of the first over the commentator said “the batsman’s Holding the bowlers Willy” (the two players family names were Holding and Willy, in case you’re wondering Willy in England is another term for a penis)
There is another area to think about, that of “Political Correctness” (PC)
” politically correct adjective (ABBREVIATION PC)
1 describes someone who believes that language and actions which could be offensive to others, especially those relating to sex and race, should be avoided
2 describes a word or expression that is used instead of another one to avoid being offensive:
Some people think that ‘fireman’ is a sexist term, and prefer the politically correct term ‘firefighter’.
It’s often said in the West that political correctness has gone mad, and it’s a much discussed
Topic. In the previous list I mentioned Dwarf, it is not politically correct to call a short
person a dwarf or a Stunt, rather they should be called “vertically challenged” or “a person of reduced stature”
Gay for Homosexual is now PC consequently no one in the West would say “He’s very Gay” in its original sense of “He’s very happy and lively”, nor can we now say a colour is Gay or
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