cross-cultural vocabulary

[deird1]

Had my first language fail today.

I walked into the hotel reception, and informed them that "the plug in the bathroom basin is stuck".

I have a fairly extensive knowledge of American English, and the ways in which it differs from mine. That being the case, in the last three weeks I have modified my vocabulary to fit my audience, as needed. For instance, "she's wrecked" (referring to my sobbing daughter) got quickly changed to "she's exhausted".

I have also changed my accent a couple of times, for greater clarity. (My daughter's name has an A in it - and apparently spelling "A" in Australian sounds like "I" in Canadian. I drawled out an appropriately accented A for the bewildered museum worker.)

In this case, though, I had no idea of what I was doing wrong. It took us several minutes before I realised that the receptionist thought I meant the toilet was clogged, and was able to clarify (with gestures) that the sink's plug was stuck in place.

Comments

[beroli]

I admit my immediate reaction would have been, "Bathroom basin? What on earth is that?" but then it would have gone to, "The only basin I know in the bathroom is the toilet, but the only thing I know in the bathroom that has a plug is the sink, so...she probably means the sink."

[deird1]

I find this fascinating! How would you define "basin"?

[beroli]

There wouldn't be that much intellect going into it. If asked that, I would probably concede that the sink and the bathtub both count as basins.

[lyr]

You would have confused Texan hotel workers, too. They'd have been wondering what was wrong with your bathroom electrical outlets. We do not use "plug" for things besides those.

[deird1]

What do you call the thing that stops the water draining out?

[lyr]

It's a stopper.

[deird1]

Interesting!