I met someone at a Satire Festival and we began to exchange experiences about our families coming to America from other places, trying to understand the culture. Although Lady Liberty is a pretty nice symbol, she's not holding a bilingual dictionary-and the bigger secret is that even native speakers will have difficulties understanding everything.
My mother was catcalled at work by her manager; he called her a swinger. Even though this was the 70's, she was still VERY offended and came home and told her husband/my father. But she was still so mad, she couldn't come up with the word.
"He called me a---a --- a JUMPER!" she finally said. Instead of empathizing with her, my father (a native speaker) laughed.
She laughs about it now, too. In fact, it's one of her favorite stories to tell. Now that she's not the butt of the joke anymore (sorry, mom).
There are LOTS of stories like this. (I wonder if technology will end the accidents, or just create more?)
My mother was catcalled at work by her manager; he called her a swinger. Even though this was the 70's, she was still VERY offended and came home and told her husband/my father. But she was still so mad, she couldn't come up with the word.
"He called me a---a --- a JUMPER!" she finally said. Instead of empathizing with her, my father (a native speaker) laughed.
She laughs about it now, too. In fact, it's one of her favorite stories to tell. Now that she's not the butt of the joke anymore (sorry, mom).
There are LOTS of stories like this. (I wonder if technology will end the accidents, or just create more?)
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