Thread: Cultural bloopers

My mom trying to start a Jehovahs witness group in a very small northern Italian devoutly catholic town was interesting.

I just moved from the states to Italy and my parents took me to an ice cream shop, or gelatoria as they are called. I was used to sampling at Baskin Robbins and asked the ice cream man for a couple of samples. Ended up with 5 different scoops of ice cream in a dish!

Culture shock: moving to Guam at 14 years old and half of my 8th grade class pregnant.

My boyfriend just visited Japan and reported that there is a line of hundreds of people wrapped around the block for Krispy Kreme donuts- which is so strange, the company is going out of business in the states! ( I confess a love for those glazed fried crack dough)

I'm sure theres about a million more being a military kid and living all over the world. There probably about a bizillion I didnt even realize happen!

Originally Posted by basina

I had a friend get me a necklace in Lebanon (she has relatives there) with my name. . . I had my BF verify that it did indeed say what I thought it did before I wore it though. Unfortunately, I have to have him look at it everytime I wear it, as I can never remember which side is the front and which is the back, and I dont want to wear it backwards ;-)

Put a tiny dab of coloured nail varnish on the back

Oh my, it is so interesting to read all of those experiences. I live with my husband's family so cultural bloopers here happen quite often LOL

"Chop Chop" directly translated from pidgin Cantonese means "hurry up" no derogatory connotations involved.

Originally Posted by BreaMorgiane

Khaleela - conversely a friend of mine said that a lot of the hats and shirts that were so popular for a while that had Chinese characters on them said rude things, or weird things ('Dog' was one he pointed out).

So I wonder if the shirts are worn for shock value and the wearer is actually aware of what it says.

Originally Posted by NahimehJoon

"Chop Chop" directly translated from pidgin Cantonese means "hurry up" no derogatory connotations involved.

Later on it becomes derogatory in its use. Besides it being used towards the Chinese railroad workers there was an Asian sidekick by the name of Chop Chop and he had every Asian racial stereotype in his design.

Chop, chop is one of those terms that really isn't mean until you use it the wrong way. I've noticed that you can't use it in school systems because they are cleaning up how things are done so that there can be absolutely no liabilty. My friends with government jobs have even commented on it being a phrase that they can't use.