--On Wednesday, December 12, 2001 10:32 AM +0100 roberto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Ah, how poorly jokes translate from language to language. Sometimes >> people put rings through the nose of bulls to make them easy to control. >> Kevin is implying that your wife has put a ring through your nose to >> make you easy to control. > > Well, over here a "ringed bull" is a person of scarce intelligence and > great stubbornness, responding only to primeval instincts -like fear of a > beating-. Understandably not what one wants to be called, even > tongue-in-cheek. How fascinating! The connotations here (at least for me, anyway) are not nearly so insulting. Bulls are often seen as very masculine and powerful, not stupid. The ringed bull thing, were it told to me, would make me feel amused that my wife would lead me around like a trained puppy (or bull). Thank you. I find differences in culteral context to common analogies very interesting. Is your interpretation regional or does it span Spain? > Just goes to prove the UN translators could drive us all to a nuclear > war... Yes! It very much shows how diplomacy and cross-cultural exchange can be very tricky! Take care, Mike -- Michael Weaver (706)542-6462 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Engineering Services EITS University of Georgia, Athens Ga. )O( Public PGP key: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~weaver/pgp.html
