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Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

Started by Cain, October 02, 2018, 12:20:11 AM

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Magpie

Accents can add to it, possibly less of a problem with English accents, but I've had American and Canadian friends who couldn't hear a change in tone because the accent was so foreign. 

I have been completed on being very patient and professional over email when that wasn't my intention so I might need that style guide to translate to American.

Fujikoma

I can't pick up on sarcasm because, well, unsure why but I take everything seriously. My new friend is having to deal with that, she's like, "Holy shit, you do anything I say." and I'm like, er, yeah, please don't say anything sarcastic.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Cain on September 28, 2019, 12:26:19 PM
A lot of Brits seem to think Americans, especially older Americans, don't get sarcasm.

I don't  know how true that really is, since we've elevated conversational cruelty and misstatement to an art form (a former workplace's style guide reminds us "when you say something is fine or good, American readers consider that a compliment, not a statement of insufficiency") but it could be part of the problem.

So what does it really mean when a brit says "not bad"?
Molon Lube

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Fujikoma on September 28, 2019, 01:23:56 PM
I can't pick up on sarcasm because, well, unsure why but I take everything seriously. My new friend is having to deal with that, she's like, "Holy shit, you do anything I say." and I'm like, er, yeah, please don't say anything sarcastic.

So you just went from significant other to object.  Well done.
Molon Lube

Cain

Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 28, 2019, 02:59:53 PM
Quote from: Cain on September 28, 2019, 12:26:19 PM
A lot of Brits seem to think Americans, especially older Americans, don't get sarcasm.

I don't  know how true that really is, since we've elevated conversational cruelty and misstatement to an art form (a former workplace's style guide reminds us "when you say something is fine or good, American readers consider that a compliment, not a statement of insufficiency") but it could be part of the problem.

So what does it really mean when a brit says "not bad"?

:lulz:

That's actually one of the more literal ones in the British arsenal. "I'm saying that it's literally "not" "bad"...I'm just not saying that it was good."

Fujikoma

#1190
Well, I don't mind being an "object"... nobody really ever affords me the respect a person deserves so, may as well suck it up and accept that I'm less than human.

EDIT: She's really silly and cool, I was fortunate she called this morning, what was unfortunate is my natural biological reaction to what I saw, but she knows I'm going to react like that, it amuses her, which is fine with me. I know it sounds bad but she likes to tease, kind of like I like to tease, this can only end in a glorious mess. I like that she's amused because seeing her being happy makes me happy.

Al Qədic

Quote from: Magpie on September 28, 2019, 12:54:14 PM
I have been completed on being very patient and professional over email when that wasn't my intention so I might need that style guide to translate to American.
Ooo, my knowledge from a business team-management class a couple quarters ago finally comes in handy. :lulz:


Basically this comes down to trends among cultures. Do they tend to lead, or follow? Are their work conversations thorough and complex, or simple and to-the-point? Do they tend to respect authority and do as told, or challenge it and go their own way?


All these dichotomies and more add up to the general fact that, in certain situations that require certain skills (forethought, quick action, etc), groups from certain countries will excel, others won't, and both will either compliment or ruin the work of their other-cultured teammates. We're all so stuck in our routines that our brain craps out when we find out other people are Doing It Wrong.


More than that, too, signal A only means B to so many people. Shit gets lost in (sometimes literal) translation real easily, hence your email kerfuffle.


One of the examples I still remember was a situation where the Thing To Do was in Mexico. The Mexican team was struggling, so they either brought on, or were offered help from, some companions from Europe (Germany specifically, iirc). The Germans wanted to delegate and command the operation. The Mexicans wanted to keep things their own way.


Eventually it boiled down to:
Germans, grumbling: Damn buncha lazy slobs don't even get that they're the problem."
Mexicans, also grumbling: "Fuckin micromanaging assholes, we're not gonna cave to their bullshit authority."
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Magpie

That's much more in depth than my situation, most of my e-mails are sent because if it's not written down it never happened. Me being polite was asking for an up date on work at the due date instead of giving out that we hadn't gotten the final approved document, it was a literal mis-interpretation, to me, asking for an update when something is due implies wanting an explanation as well, I was just getting the update I had actually asked for.

Did you class cover what to expect from different nationalities or just general trends? It sounds interesting even if you're not getting much use out of it.

Al Qədic

Quote from: Magpie on September 28, 2019, 10:56:09 PM
Did you class cover what to expect from different nationalities or just general trends? It sounds interesting even if you're not getting much use out of it.


Yeah, it was lots of looking from continent to continent (country to country if some had specific trends that deviated from the larger trend of their continent), things like Americans wanting to go into detail with a lengthy conversation vs Japanese expecting the full breadth of detail to be conveyed with simple instruction. The overall focus was on teambuilding, on finding out how and why you can stuff people in a room with different specializations, skill levels, sexes, and yes, nationalities, and end up with a successful product, or building development, or whatever.


One of the papers I ended up writing in that class was not only a neat hypothetical situation in working with a Chinese person and an Indian person on a project, but also ended up being the way I came out to my mother months later. So that was neat.


Meanwhile that same quarter, I took an art class where an old Brit with tattoos taught me to laugh at the butts and janky proportions in old French paintings. :lulz:
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

The Johnny

#1194
Quote from: Al Qədic on September 28, 2019, 08:21:43 PM

One of the examples I still remember was a situation where the Thing To Do was in Mexico. The Mexican team was struggling, so they either brought on, or were offered help from, some companions from Europe (Germany specifically, iirc). The Germans wanted to delegate and command the operation. The Mexicans wanted to keep things their own way.

Eventually it boiled down to:
Germans, grumbling: Damn buncha lazy slobs don't even get that they're the problem."
Mexicans, also grumbling: "Fuckin micromanaging assholes, we're not gonna cave to their bullshit authority."

Mexicans are uppity even to their own detriment. It's one of the reasons why we'll never manifest something like the Third Reich, nor will we ever be a 1st world country.

It's a weird relation to authority in which we ultimately are submissive to it, but hate with a passion any manifestation of panopticon supervision and having to follow meticulously a procedure/command. We're excellent at doing patchwork and improvising, but finishing something of perfect quality within a specific deadline? Good luck with that.

Took this motherfucker technician 10 days 14 days to fix my computer... and all the time i was thinking "if i make this guy hussle, its gonna cost me about 8x than if i just let him slack off"... unsurprisingly, the repair costed me just $50, just because i didnt tighten up his screws.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Magpie

Quote from: Al Qədic on September 28, 2019, 11:34:54 PM


One of the papers I ended up writing in that class was not only a neat hypothetical situation in working with a Chinese person and an Indian person on a project, but also ended up being the way I came out to my mother months later. So that was neat.



Always good to find a real world application of your new skills.

(I'm just assuming it went well)

Al Qədic

Quote from: Magpie on September 29, 2019, 03:04:53 PM
Quote from: Al Qədic on September 28, 2019, 11:34:54 PM


One of the papers I ended up writing in that class was not only a neat hypothetical situation in working with a Chinese person and an Indian person on a project, but also ended up being the way I came out to my mother months later. So that was neat.



Always good to find a real world application of your new skills.

(I'm just assuming it went well)
It did indeed.
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Al Qədic

So, just went on a walk around a bit of the neighborhood, and remembered that out in the front of the house of some nice couple I've never met is a tree. This tree is being marketed as a "Poet Tree", and has a few strings strung up for people to put poems on. There's some nice stuff, and...needless to say, methinks it's high time for some nonsensical holiness to grace that plant's clothespins. :lulz:
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Chelagoras The Boulder

So this year I've been given the role of Bearded Lady at Dark Harbor. My job consists mostly of following around alpha males and hitting on them as creepily as possible, often using jazz showtunes. It's great. Best part is, i've gotten more compliments from women while wearing drag, than i have in months. Fucking love this job.
"It isn't who you know, it's who you know, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do."

Fujikoma