An example of what I mean:
I, in China, told an English speaking Chinese friend I needed to stop off in the bathroom to “take a shit.”
He looked appalled and after I asked why he had that look, he asked what I was going to do with someone’s shit.
I had not laughed so hard in a while, and it totally makes sense.
I explained it was an expression for pooping, and he comes back with, “wouldn’t that be giving a shit?”
I then got to explain that to give a shit means you care and I realized how fucked some of our expressions are.
What misunderstandings made you laugh?
Because people are super accommodating in non-WASPy countries. I’d try to speak Spanish and if they saw I was struggling too much, they’d say “let’s speak English.”
What’s “WASPy”?
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
It’s a term for awkward Northern Europeans.
Thanks! As a white Northern European in a protestant area I concur that we are awkward.