Thursday, December 13, 2007

What did you say?

We speak British English here. A traffic light is a robot, a shirt is a jersey, a candy is a sweet.
While many of the words are the same, some just don’t translate, and some are just down right offensive.
For example, an eraser here is a “rubber.” I guess that makes since, since you rub the mistake to erase it. But I read a story in the newspaper of David Beckham’s son telling his kindergarten teacher he has a rubber collection. Too funny!
Another example, -We were watching a session of the Bait of Satan on DVD. John Bevere was preaching and used the word “sourpuss.” Lauren, my Zimbabwean friends let out a gasp and a hysterical laugh.
“Oh! That is rich my friend!”
None of us got the joke.
“Sourpuss is such an offensive word here. You don’t use it. You just don’t use it!”
Same goes with the word “bonk”
But check out this photo below. I think this takes the cake. This is a restaurant in Manzini. They serve great chicken, but as an American I laugh every time I see the sign. Maybe it's the 12 year old buy that lives inside of me, but I can't say it with a straight face.

2 comments:

Annie said...

Hehe!

Sarah said...

Slammin' food, but you can't help but laugh when you say it. Gotta love it!