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Americans instinctively assume “boffin” is derogatory because it’s totally absent from American parlance (iOS autocorrects it to “bogging” in US), so without th
by starmftronajoll 8y ago
Americans instinctively assume “boffin” is derogatory because it’s totally absent from American parlance (iOS autocorrects it to “bogging” in US), so without the cultural context it just sounds like a goofy word, like “doofus.” In an American context, it’s not a word that sounds as if it’s being spoken with admiration, so the true meaning is counterintuitive.
- tluyben2 8y agoBut when someone says/texts me a word I do not understand, I look it up including the contexts it is used in. I do not immediately, from the sound of a word I never heard, assume someone is calling me an idiot. Doing so actually makes you an idiot. I do not understand how it seems logical to assume that me speaking the English I have learned in school (which is the Queens English when I was young in the Netherlands) is somehow interpreted by someone with a limited vocabulary as derogatory.