Every once in a while I say something to my husband and get an instant quizzical look. That's when I realize - he has no idea what I'm talking about. You see, he's from Ghana and I'm from Colorado. And sometimes the idioms I use just haven't crossed the ocean to become general knowledge in Africa.
An example: "Elbow Grease". He was complaining about cleaning a tough stain on the stove and said, "Well, just put more elbow grease into it!". Then it came. That quizzical look. He had no clue what that meant.
The most recent example came the other night. A popular car commercial is putting words to the melody of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. I mentioned the source and immediately got that look again. "Who's that?" he asked. I couldn't believe it - he didn't know of Beethoven, Mozart, or any of the great classical composers!
After I recovered from my shock (I was a music major, after all - I lived & breathed classical for 4 years), I realized that not everyone in the world was brought up like I was. They don't listen to the European classical composers in the villages of Ghana. I don't know why I expected them to, but apparantly I did.
It's a great reminder that we all have our own experiences and shouldn't assume that others have had the same ones. After all, I had never heard of Plantains before I met him...
Saturday, August 04, 2007
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