Comments on: From the Road: A Trip Across the Pond https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/ VitalSmarts is now Crucial Learning Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:55:32 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 By: Steve Willis https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-644 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:55:32 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-644 I found out that it means really cold weather.

@Lynda Liles

]]> By: Luann Woneis https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-643 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:23:47 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-643 What a hoot! Thanks to the other readers for letting me know what “brass monkey weather” and “eating with your granfather’s fork” meant. I was dying to know.

]]> By: Lynda Liles https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-642 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:37:39 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-642 Re From the Road
A Trip Across the Pond

What IS blooming brass monkey weather?

]]> By: Mary Tenant https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-641 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:50:48 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-641 @Mary Tenant

]]> By: Mary Tenant https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-640 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:48:21 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-640 “Eat what you can with your Grandfather’s fork” I think this means to try and profit by your grandfather’s experience. Similar to ” Old gold is as good as new gold” In other words you can save yourself alot of time and trouble if you will learn from others without having to have the same experience yourself. For example: touching an electric fence that is on, someone else describes what happened to them when they did it. Now if you are wise you now know not to touch an electric fence when it is on without having had the unpleasant experience.

]]> By: Greg Brandt https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-639 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:20:53 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-639 Jargon and Vitalspeak may inhibit shared meaning. Thanks for the reminder.

]]> By: valerie andruss https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-638 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:19:45 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-638 Excellent point and one that’s frequently overlooked. BTW: on the off chance nobody has told you yet, that weather reference was to weather “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”. Here’s a possible etiology: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cold%20enough%20to%20freeze%20the%20balls%20off%20a%20brass%20monkey.html.

]]> By: Doug Harrell https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-637 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:57:11 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-637 Avoiding slang when speaking to non-native English speakers (or even, as you pointed out, non-American English speakers) is not only an important courtesy, but also very important to getting your message across. Years ago when we were living in Italy, my wife went to a technical conference that provided simultaneous translation of all presentations into English, Italian, French and German. During one presentation, an American software company was pitching their product. Their presentation was riddled with typical American slang such as, “This product is great and it will knock your socks off!” and “We’ve really hit a home run with this one.” Out of curiosity, my wife switched her headphones over to Italian to see how all of this was being translated. The translation [in Italian] was “They are saying their product is good. Now they are saying something about socks. Now they are saying something about hitting a house.” Clearly they were not delivering the message they thought they were. Slang is colorful and fun, but it is not communication unless your listeners understand it.

]]> By: Mary https://cruciallearning.com/blog/from-the-road-a-trip-across-the-pond/#comment-636 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:23:46 +0000 http://www.crucialskills.com/?p=489#comment-636 As in “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’?

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