Paola,
Richard Bornat wrote:
Dear Raymond. It's not offensive. It's funny.
Richard, I think your original message and follow-up are
indefensible. I was shocked to read the original message
and thought it was outrageous.
You may not know many Australians. In Australia 'bastard' is a term of
endearment ('you old bastard', for example; 'me and these bastards', for
another). That's why it's funny.
I would recommend "Cross-cultural pragmatics" by Anna Wierzbicka.
She is a Polish linguist (or a linguist who is Polish :-) living in
Australia.
She gives some excellent contrasts between Polish/English/Australian
cultural interactions. The point she makes at the start is that so
called "universal" norms for human interaction are actually just
Anglo-saxon norms, but because British/American academics write most
of the books and papers (and rule the world ;-) we get to call them
universal.
--
Derek M. Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667
Knowledge Software Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk
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