Where I Find Out I am an American After All
I'm going to start this one out with a story: My friend Nick, who went to high school in Alaska had a German foreign exchange student come to his high school for a year. This guy, Max, was sitting in math class one day when a fellow American student of Nick's, Janice, turned around to ask him for some Chapstick. Max looked up with a quizzical look on his face and said, "pardon?"
Janice repeated slightly slower, "Chapstick."
Once again, Max looked at her funnily and said, "I don't know what that is."
Janice, once again, this time louder, said "Chapstick!"
However, she didn't stop there, she managed to further enunciate and slow down the word, repeating it three more times, so it became "CHAP STICK!" At this point, she was almost yelling.
Annoyed, Nick turned over to Janice and said, "maybe they don't have Chapstick in Germany, Janice?"
Turns out, Chaptick in Germany, or lip balm, as you will, is called by their local brand name, Labello.
Basically, Americans have a tendency to do two things with languages. The first is the aforementioned "slower and louder" concept, where they merely repeat the word slowly and loudly, impervious to the idea that people don't know that specific word.
The second tendency involves making fun of other languages. Now, this was something I've always thought I've done a reasonably good job of avoiding. There have been certain instances such as the "Sexisme" (sexism in french) poster in middle school french class that was turned into "Sex is me," and maybe once or twice I've chuckled at the perceived ridiculousness of pronouncing certain languages, but I thought I was pretty much ok on that front.
That all changed about three days ago, soon after Natalie came. I went into the bathroom, and lo and behold, in front of me, was a tube of something titled "ROT WEISS." After laughing and showing it to the other members of the apartment, I was informed that rot weiss actually means "red white," by a slightly perturbed German. The sheer ridiculousness of naming a toothpaste Rot Weiss overshadowed my cultural sensitivity. This soon extended to other facets of the German language, as Nick and I attempted, much to Natalie's delight, to read the German language. Soon after that, given how imperious-sounding German sounds, we were asking her to say all sorts of crazy things in German, such as "I will break you," or "how many sausages can you fit in your mouth?"
Anyways, now that I kind of recognize it, and have admitted my American-ness, I'm still going to continue thinking Rot Weiss is the most ridiculous name for any sort of hygienic product. ever.
Janice repeated slightly slower, "Chapstick."
Once again, Max looked at her funnily and said, "I don't know what that is."
Janice, once again, this time louder, said "Chapstick!"
However, she didn't stop there, she managed to further enunciate and slow down the word, repeating it three more times, so it became "CHAP STICK!" At this point, she was almost yelling.
Annoyed, Nick turned over to Janice and said, "maybe they don't have Chapstick in Germany, Janice?"
Turns out, Chaptick in Germany, or lip balm, as you will, is called by their local brand name, Labello.
Basically, Americans have a tendency to do two things with languages. The first is the aforementioned "slower and louder" concept, where they merely repeat the word slowly and loudly, impervious to the idea that people don't know that specific word.
The second tendency involves making fun of other languages. Now, this was something I've always thought I've done a reasonably good job of avoiding. There have been certain instances such as the "Sexisme" (sexism in french) poster in middle school french class that was turned into "Sex is me," and maybe once or twice I've chuckled at the perceived ridiculousness of pronouncing certain languages, but I thought I was pretty much ok on that front.
That all changed about three days ago, soon after Natalie came. I went into the bathroom, and lo and behold, in front of me, was a tube of something titled "ROT WEISS." After laughing and showing it to the other members of the apartment, I was informed that rot weiss actually means "red white," by a slightly perturbed German. The sheer ridiculousness of naming a toothpaste Rot Weiss overshadowed my cultural sensitivity. This soon extended to other facets of the German language, as Nick and I attempted, much to Natalie's delight, to read the German language. Soon after that, given how imperious-sounding German sounds, we were asking her to say all sorts of crazy things in German, such as "I will break you," or "how many sausages can you fit in your mouth?"
Anyways, now that I kind of recognize it, and have admitted my American-ness, I'm still going to continue thinking Rot Weiss is the most ridiculous name for any sort of hygienic product. ever.
posted by Isaac at 5:53 AM
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