Saturday, March 24, 2007

Everything is Illuminated... again... part 2

Alex: How much currency would a first-rate accountant
receive in America?

Johnathan: I don't know. A lot, probably, if he or she is good.
Alex: She?
Johnathan: Or he.
Alex: Are there Negro accountants?
J: Yes, there are African-American accountants...
... but you don't want to use that word.
Alex: And homosexual accountants?
J: There are homosexual everythings.
There are homosexual garbage men.

A: And how much currency would
Negro homosexual accountant receive?

J: You shouldn't use that word.
A: Which word?
J: The N-word. [stuttering uncomfortably] ...It's not the N-word, but-
A: Negro?
J: Yeah, that one.
A: But I dig them all the way. They are premium people.
J: It's that word, though. You're not supposed to use that word.
A: What is wrong with the Negroes?

(I don't know if the transcript is as funny as the movie or
if you just have to have taught English in the CR to appreciate
the joke, but...)


Anyway, according to my roommate, in the Czech-English
dictionaries here the English translation of the Czech word for
"black person" is Negro. I've learned not to trust those
bilingual dictionaries--I've had my students say some pretty
weird things when they use the dictionaries.


Anyway.

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