On Tue, Apr 03, 2001 at 05:58:35PM +0200, Abigail wrote:
> Which of course leads to the (British) saying (about USians):
>
> "We have everything in common, except, of course, the language."
As an epiloge for today's edition... I nearly got my face punched in
today. A word of warning. Subtle differences in slang is one thing.
Subtle differences in insults is another!
Sitting at lunch here in Belfast, having a conversation about
Starbucks' slash-and-burn march across the face of the urban coffee
culture, one of the guys commented that despite all that, he really
liked their muffins. So I called him a tool, as in "tool of the
establishment". At this moment my life was in danger and the rest of
the table had something of an overreaction in my opinion.
Turns out, to call someone a tool over here is roughly akin to saying
"You're a dick" only mix in some grevious insults about their mother
and maybe illicit comments about their little sister while you're at
it. That gets an idea of the viciousness of the insult.
Anyhow, this may have been the cause of the War of 1812.
--
Michael G. Schwern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
Perl6 Quality Assurance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kwalitee Is Job One
Cheating is often more efficient.
- Seven of Nine
