Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70
And sometimes a word can have two different, but similar meanings depending on what country you are in.
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It can be a challenge. One tiny example of my own: in high school, I was an exchange student to the US, and my very first day at school there, in my very first class (physics), I asked the girl sitting in front of me in my unfortunately-loud voice if she had a
rubber I could borrow. I wanted to correct an error in the graph I'd just drawn; I wasn't to know that the American word for what I was asking for was "eraser".
The story spread like wildfire round the school - it was a kinder, more innocent time than today - and it took me a long time to live it down. Even months later some people would still only half believe that I was genuine in my ignorance. And then I made it worse.
I was giving a talk about Australia - then, a fabled country beyond the "Here be dragons!" line on the map, to most Americans' minds - to a meeting of The Daughters of the American Revolution. When it was opened up to questions from the group, the very first lady who spoke to me fixed me with a steely eye and said, "I'm wise to you. You're the one who spoke dirty to my grand-daughter!" I stammered some attempt at an explanation, but unfortunately said it had made me feel like a
twit, which at the time in Australian English meant a bit foolish and without common sense. I'm sure you can guess what they
thought I was saying.