Post #3931040

2026-07-19 08:28 UTC

@Maker_of_Things@cupoftea.social That's a good, measured way of looking at it. In the specific case of the toot I got scolded for, there was a photo of the cigarettes and I added a footnote for anyone who didn't know the local usage, so I had hoped that would preclude problems. An interesting situation, at least - it made me think about the linguistic etiquette of such regional usages and people have shared fine input. Thanks for yours.

Replies (1)

@Maker_of_Things@cupoftea.social 2026-07-19 09:26

@CiaraNi@mastodon.green Yes. It is always going to be problematic on occasions with 'out of culture' misunderstandings. When I was a kid at school there was a swimming instructor at the local pool. As he did a kit inspection before allowing us kids in the pool, he'd always look at me say "Hello, me old China!" and I'd get annoyed thinking he was making a racial comment about me. It turned out that he was a Cockney and 'China' was China Plate - mate. He was trying to help me feel welcome by being extra friendly, as I was the only non white kid in the pool! I only found out, after the last session with him, when he was explaining that his infamous story of his 'Shark bite scar' was really from walking through a glass door. 😄 We learn. We all need to learn if we are to grow in to a good society.

Open ##3931039