OT Re: Look and Learn . . .

[Mark Swindell]

I understood what Wolfgang meant when I read his original post.  It  
raised my eyebrows for a brief moment because of my own cultural/ 
linguistic moorings, but it made sense when I filtered it by trying  
to understand  his intent,  and that he was likely not raised in an  
English-speaking context.   It was a blunt statement, yes, but that  
can make for efficient code, no?  :)

An amusing parallel:  For many folks in Mexico the word "estúpido" is  
considered on a par with the F-word or worse.  While it's certainly  
never a compliment when used to someone's face, it, and its forms,  
are far more common in other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, and  
in English its parallel is quite common (a stupid joke, etc).  So  
when I teach Mexican kids, my role is to be sensitive to their  
gasps... yes, the young ones literally draw their breath in disbelief  
and wonder/fear when they hear or read the cognate thrown around in  
English.  They are indeed ignorant of how "stupid" is used outside  
their own micro-culture.  They are not stupid, of course, but in this  
context they are definitely ignorant.  There's no shame or insult in  
that.   So I explain to them that words only hold the emotional  
charge that we give them ourselves, though our cultural upbringing.

I'm always amazed at how often and well people from other countries  
communicate in English, and sheepish at how few Americans can  
communicate in another language.   Perhaps if we are bothered by  
something that seems out of kilter from a non-English native, we  
should ask first what was intended:  "X, did you mean to insult Y?  
Because directly calling someone Z in most of the English speaking  
world could easily be considered an insult."

>>
>> The language of the web is not english! Its spanglish denglish,  
>> singlish, chinglish, aranglish, etc..

I couldn't agree more.

Mark