Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Politically . . . Correct

Just met with my language-exchange partner for Moroccan food in Kreuzberg. Mmm delicious. But I dunno. He's very nice, but it's always---well, always as in, this is our second meeting---slightly awkward. Maybe it's just me. Well, he seems to enjoy my company (we hardly speak any Japanese---it's not much of an exchange, I'm afraid), and I get to speak German. Everybody is happy. Maybe. Hoffentlich.

Anyway. Politically correctness is a pretty important issue when it comes to meeting people in other countries. I've made some pretty embarrassing faux pas with my Israeli friend (thankfully she has a good sense of humour), referring to the Israeli embassy as the "Jewish embassy."Oh man. And in Germany, obviously I've completely stopped using the word "Nazi" (ie. "You're such a grammar Nazi!") because it really simply isn't very funny here. Really.

But yes. Below is a true story---told to me by Marlowe about his teacher-colleague at his English language school in Toronto.

(click to enlarge)

Basically: there is such a thing as overly politically sensitive.

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