milagros317
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- Jan 12, 2002
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One of our new British members just posted a true story in which he uses the word "rubber" to mean an "eraser." That is what is understood in the UK, but here in the USA, the word "rubber" used as a noun means "rubber birth control device, also known as a condom."
That difference in usage caused me to remember a funny incident in graduate school involving a graduate student in mathematics who I will call John (because that wasn't his name) and the mathematics department secretary who I will call Mary (also not her real name). John was a handsome single young man of 23 and Mary a very proper married woman of about 55, of Irish-American heritage. Mary was known to be a practicing Catholic as she sometimes showed us pictures of her grandchildren's baptisms or first communions.
One day in the Spring Semester of 1973, I was sitting in a chair in the math department office to fill out some forms to renew my financial aid for the next academic year.
John came in and asked Mary, "Do you have a rubber that I could borrow?"
Mary looked utterly shocked and was speechless.
John tried to explain that she need not worry about his running off with the eraser. He said, "Look, I only need it for about five minutes and I'll be right across the hall in the grad student lounge. I'll bring it right back to you after I'm done with it."
Mary was beyond shocked now and she screamed, "Get out! Get out of here right now!" while pointing vigorously toward the door.
John left looking bewildered.
About ten minutes later, finished with the forms, I went into the lounge and explained to him what "rubber" meant here in the USA. He was aghast and arranged for me to explain to Mary what it meant in the UK.
That difference in usage caused me to remember a funny incident in graduate school involving a graduate student in mathematics who I will call John (because that wasn't his name) and the mathematics department secretary who I will call Mary (also not her real name). John was a handsome single young man of 23 and Mary a very proper married woman of about 55, of Irish-American heritage. Mary was known to be a practicing Catholic as she sometimes showed us pictures of her grandchildren's baptisms or first communions.
One day in the Spring Semester of 1973, I was sitting in a chair in the math department office to fill out some forms to renew my financial aid for the next academic year.
John came in and asked Mary, "Do you have a rubber that I could borrow?"
Mary looked utterly shocked and was speechless.
John tried to explain that she need not worry about his running off with the eraser. He said, "Look, I only need it for about five minutes and I'll be right across the hall in the grad student lounge. I'll bring it right back to you after I'm done with it."
Mary was beyond shocked now and she screamed, "Get out! Get out of here right now!" while pointing vigorously toward the door.
John left looking bewildered.
About ten minutes later, finished with the forms, I went into the lounge and explained to him what "rubber" meant here in the USA. He was aghast and arranged for me to explain to Mary what it meant in the UK.
