Lost in translation

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I was spending some time in the Reno office between plane trips a long while back.
I was doing some prototype sketches and needed an eraser.

I visited reception and asked one of the young women who was sitting at the front desk if she had ‘a rubber?’
That's what we call lumps of plastic that rub out pencil marks in Oz.

She and her equally fresh faced friend went bright red and caught a fit of the girlish giggles.
Taken aback at the reaction, I again asked if they had ‘a rubber’ that I could borrow. They cracked up and one of them refused to even look up at me from behind her hand.
I ran the phrase through my mind but still couldn't see what was so funny, 'a rubber, you know, to rub out pencil marks!'

Then it hit me.

'You think I mean condom' I said and these two shy American belles’ went several shades redder and shushed me while nodding and laughing.

It’s funny how different cultures, even if they are close variations of ‘Western culture,’ have different meanings for the same words such as rubber verses condom, the locations of the Fanny, boots or trunks on cars, and crisps rather then chips.


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Images: http://www.sxc.hu

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