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Finland's Ismo Leikola on the weirdest, shittiest word in the English language (www.youtube.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/standupcomedy@lemmy.world
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ISMO talks about moving to America and having to navigate the language and slang.

TBF, it seems the Brits do similar with the concept of "bollocks," right..?

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[–] 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I actually had a really funny moment at a business telephone conference back in the days. I was sitting there with my colleges, all non-native English speakers, and we were talking to some guys in the US. One of our people was not in the call, and one of the 'mericans said "Yeah, he's the shit".

My guys went apeshit over this, fucking livid, and all my best attempts to cool them down and explain what the 'mericans meant were in vain. The 'mericans, meanwhile, had no idea (none!) what all the commotion was all about.

After the call, I calmly tried to explain the conceptual difference between "shit" and "the shit" again to my guys, but I do not believe they ever understood it or even believed me.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    Hah, that's a good one. I also have to wonder what their source of English was, because these expressions seem pretty common across the UK, Oz, and the States.

    As someone at only the A2 level of French, I run in to slang sometimes and it's almost always something I didn't hear before via my learning tools & methods. Even if I ever do finish book-learning French, I know that street / regional French is going to be like a bonus language I'll have to grapple with.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I also have to wonder what their source of English was

    Well, you would pick something like that up eventually if you were living in an English-speaking country. But we are talking about a continental European country that has fully dubbed TV so unless you travel a lot, you do not really come in contact with this sort of expression.

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