The closest I come to speaking another language is being reasonably well-acquainted with American and British vernacular. The two are hardly mutually incomprehensible so even in my most optimistic moments I can't honestly think of it as knowing a second language--just knowing two dialects of the same language. Even so, I'm still acutely aware of the fact that there are a lot of things that get lost in translation. One of the things I've always been aware of but never given much thought to (or written about) is the fact that some words that sound dirty on one side of the Atlantic don't sound that way on the other. And vice-versa.
Take 'bum bag'. That pouch people wear around their waists, especially tourists? In the US it's called a 'fanny pack' but I can't bring myself to call it that. Not only was I taught first to call it a 'bum bag', but in the UK the word 'fanny' is a vulgar slang term for female genitals. No, I'm not lying.
'Fag' in the US is a really terrible slur and one for which you will earn a lot of disapproving scowls. In the UK it's a cigarette.
And then there's 'winklepicker'. I'm not honestly sure how common a term that is in the UK but the first time I saw the word, I thought it was probably sexual or derogatory in nature. Or both. It's actually just a kind of black ankle boot with a long pointed toe.
When you fuck up in another language it's usually understandable and excusable, even as it makes people uncomfortable to hear it. English speakers don't have that excuse.
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