| From: | "R.L.H." <hernan@*****.edu> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Differing Definitions (Was: Re: Free Actions) |
| Date: | Thu, 30 Nov 1995 01:33:41 -0600 (CST) |
> Sorry for anyone who is offended by all this -but just pretend I'm
> American and don't realise the British interpretations. :)
Yet this is hardly the first instance in which the discrepancies in the
divergent branches of American and British versions of English have
fostered ambiguity and misinterpretation.
[ I received ellucidation as to the following ancecdote in a marketing
course, and as such, should individuals be beset by the desire to decry
it as merest urban scuttlebutt, I should request that said individuals
direct their upbraiding remarks at my professor, not the individual who
dutifully recorded the notes. ]
Exampli gratia: The soft drink company Dr Pepper encountered some
measure of vicissitude in its marketing campaign o'er in the British
Isles with its slogan, "Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?" -- the
implied meaning of course to frequently partake of their product.
Regrettably, this was not the meaning instilled in viewers as the slang
word "pepper" translates to "prostitute." Accordingly, the motto so
successful in America, was rather lost on British viewers.
Pity, really...I am rather fond of the beverage, myself.
Another example, this one involving character mis-recognition:
To comprehend the error, one must realize that German, as is true in many
European languages, while using a similar alphabet, possesses marks and
characters not encountered in English. One such character is the es-tset,
literally translated "s-z," and it is accordingly represented by a
derivation of a combination of the script long s and z characters. The
modern print version is quite reminiscient of a lowercase Beta character
or a slightly more elaborate uppercase B. Es-tsets never appear at the
beginning of words (to the best of MY knowledge), and often confuse
beginning level German langauge students when they encounter an uppercase
B suspiciously residing in the middle or end of a term.
The character is properly pronounced as a double s, e.g., SchloB (castle)
would be pronounced "schloss." With this in mind, consider how a native
German speaker -- a language professor of a fencing associate of mine --
would read the following soft drink label: Mr. PiBB.
His observation, as I recollect, was, "How could they ever get anybody to
drink that?"
Colonel Count von Hohenzollern und von Doom, DMSc, DSc, PhD.
Doom Technologies & Weapon Systems -- Dark Thought Publications
>> Working on solutions best left in the Dark. <<
[ http://http.tamu.edu:8000/~ldk1083/doom/index.html ]
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"Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be;
but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."
-- Tweedledee, "Through the Looking-Glass"
