Blog Roll
My goodness, I love the terminology of the Blogosphere!
Now then, I've just signed up for a BlogRoll, so I can add links to other blogs that I like, and now I find myself in a bit of a quandary. Many of the blogs I admire use rugged Anglo-Saxon English (My Boyfriend is a %@#& is an excellent one that springs to mind). I personally have no objection to this, but here in the Middle East such 'vulgarity' is seriously frowned upon. So I have to be a little bit careful and use a bit of self-censorship. Readers in the Western world will, of course, be outraged. But hey, I like living here and don't want to invite an early departure.
I have to admit, the attitude to 'bad language' is a very strange aspect of living here. Innocuous words and phrases in the West can be taken as serious insults here. A few months ago, I had a phone call from a young local female administrator from the offices where I am based. Can't remember what she wanted exactly, but it was something ridiculous. Anyway, I apparently told her to 'get lost', and said I would sort it out when I arrived at the office in half an hour. When I got there, the manager told me that the girl had just been in her office, in tears because of what I'd said. It had been explained to the girl that Westerners will very often say much worse things than that, and attach no meaning to them whatsoever. Anyway, I went and apologised to her, and she never phones me any more.
Right. Back to the point. I'm having a damnably hard time finding good blogs that are not awash with robust Anglo-Saxon. Bollocks.
Now then, I've just signed up for a BlogRoll, so I can add links to other blogs that I like, and now I find myself in a bit of a quandary. Many of the blogs I admire use rugged Anglo-Saxon English (My Boyfriend is a %@#& is an excellent one that springs to mind). I personally have no objection to this, but here in the Middle East such 'vulgarity' is seriously frowned upon. So I have to be a little bit careful and use a bit of self-censorship. Readers in the Western world will, of course, be outraged. But hey, I like living here and don't want to invite an early departure.
I have to admit, the attitude to 'bad language' is a very strange aspect of living here. Innocuous words and phrases in the West can be taken as serious insults here. A few months ago, I had a phone call from a young local female administrator from the offices where I am based. Can't remember what she wanted exactly, but it was something ridiculous. Anyway, I apparently told her to 'get lost', and said I would sort it out when I arrived at the office in half an hour. When I got there, the manager told me that the girl had just been in her office, in tears because of what I'd said. It had been explained to the girl that Westerners will very often say much worse things than that, and attach no meaning to them whatsoever. Anyway, I went and apologised to her, and she never phones me any more.
Right. Back to the point. I'm having a damnably hard time finding good blogs that are not awash with robust Anglo-Saxon. Bollocks.
posted by Keef at
4:14 pm
<< Home