Sunday 11 July 2010

It's all OK I used a rubber.....

It has taken me ages to come up with an idea for EDM 206 'Draw something familiar to you that you know is called something else in another region', but I have had real fun with this.  I'm not trying to match the comedic level of the extremely talented Andrea Joseph when she tackled the whole 'fanny' issue (insert lots of English blushing & - see her post for February 19th HERE - you will need to scroll down a couple of posts to see it).

I have had the odd idea for this one then last week, while going over my Paris sketches I found a page I had abandoned.  In true EDM spirit I decided I should try to mend it, but I just seemed to make a bigger mess.  That's when I thought about using my rubber.... and that was it, an idea was born. 




I set to with the already messed up page, made an even bigger mess - and loved every minute of it!!  Then I painted a RUBBER on some watercolour paper, cut it out and stuck it on top of the pencil scribbles. 

You see I know that generally speaking a 'rubber' to my lovely friends across The Pond has an entirely different meaning - you know what I mean boys and girls ;o)  Yet here in the UK it is absolutely an everyday term for well, a rubber.  You would never get anyone here asking to borrow an eraser to rub out pencil marks. Even typing the word doesn't seem right!  It's funny isn't it how things can have such varied meanings?  But it all leads to fantastic innuendo (or as I prefer to call it 'In Your Endo) - which is VERY British humour.  Google the 'Carry On' films sometime (Oooh, Matron!).  And, more importantly it's all part of the beauty of the English language that adapts and adopts fer more than any other language (probably).

I found this British - American glossary online and think it's wonderful, thought you might like to see it too?  You can swap it round between countries, which makes it even more useful.

Armed with this glossary my American chums can now also appreciate this little anecdote from my childhood:

I would have been possibly 10 or 11 years old and at school pen-pals were being organised between the school I was at and the school we were partnered with in Lille, France.  We all had to write a letter to a pupil at the French school.  These letters were to be passed around the pupils in the equivalent French class and they would reply to us.  I was very taken with this idea and laboured long and hard over my letter, illustrating it (of course) and sticking pictures to it.  After a couple of weeks, friends in my class started to receive responses from the French pupil who had picked them.  I began to get more excited.  Every morning I ran downstairs and asked if my French letter had arrived.  I was obsessed with receiving my French letter.  I told everyone I met, family, friends, complete strangers, that I was going to get a French letter through the post.  I didn't flinch when I noticed the strained looks and stifled grins on the faces of the adults I told this to.  After I can't remember how long, my lovely Dad could take it no more, sat me down and told me why I should re-phrase what I was saying.  I have never been so mortified in my entire life.  Well I have, but those are other stories  ;o) 

Now I leave it to you to look up French Letter in the glossary I have supplied you with!!!  More blushes!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend xx

15 comments:

  1. OMG!! I would never have guessed that one!! This was a fun post, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love how you reworked a piece you had abandoned. So very clever and informative too. It is funny how we are all the same and yet so very different too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, my! The thoughts I had when first I read your title for this post - am I blushing? Very clever, and a nice looking page.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thats too funny (and yes, I did comment on the fanny issue)... I laughed when I saw the top title of your post as just a few nights ago we saw a movie and there was a chap who said to his girl friend (who was worried she has prego)"Dont worry, Its all okay we used a rubber" Ha ha ... One time I forgot in my blog that calling my self a knob was not such a good idea (dughhh). Love your drawing and story behind it, brilliant and thanks for the giggle : )

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great fun! I looked at your glossary - had to read it twice to understand even what phrase you were talking about. So it seems that all roads seem to lead to the same place. I won't say where.

    Oh, and I love the messy page too - you made a mess interesting and artful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. teehee!Love the French letter story...bless! X:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brilliant! And speaking of that...I used to call it rubber too =)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well- obviously there are many, varied uses for rubber- something we should all remain mindful of. :-)) Love your sketch and your humor (that's humour to you)- enjoyed every minute of it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ha I can almost hear you giggling to yourself while youe wrote this.
    I like what you did to the journal pages,you made it look like it was all meant to be like that from the start!

    ReplyDelete
  10. My husband keeps correcting me when I call it a rubber. It doesn't help that I LIVE in the USA now ;)
    Great sketch :) Fabulous rescue!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fun post! I never would have guessed...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for the lovely comments!!

    I had wondered when I posted this if I had made too big a deal of the rubber / eraser difference, thinking maybe more people already knew about it. I'm really pleased you have all seen the humour in it. Humour has no borders - yey! There are some English / American word differences I just knew might be a step too far... words and phrases we use in this country quite innocently that would be shocking, if not downright offensive if used in the U.S.A. It has made me wonder what words / phrases (other than the one highlighted by Andrea Joseph) that might shock us Brits, but are used elsewhere without the flicker of an eye. It's fascinating.

    Back to the glossary I think! x

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lesley, what a wonderful post :) I first came across this many years ago when working for an American petrochemical company here in the UK. We had audit team from the USA over, and I can still remember the shocked expression on a young guy's face when I quite innocently asked - "Do you have a rubber I can borrow..." Someone, had to take me aside and quietly explain... then it was my turn to blush!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is just a brilliant, brilliant post!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Lots of Link Love from: ♥
    http://good4youtea.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

 

yasmin lawyer