Samantha King - Taboo Words - Outside Reading #5

I read an article in my children’s literature class this semester called “Tomboy.” It discussed the meaning of the word within different cultures.

 

 

 

Here is an example:

 

“While North Americans commonly see tomboyism as a transitional cross-cultural concept – as young girls who enjoy climbing trees and playing sports can presumable be found throughout the world – it is distinctly Ango-American. An array of languages including Spanish, French, and Dutch, do not have the term while others, like German with its concepts of backfisch  (which literally translate as “baked fish” but idiomatically refers to a rebellious and rambunctious girl) or trotzkopf (which means stubborn or pig-headed) have only rough equivalents.”

 

 During class, we touched on the topic of words, and in particular, we discussed taboo words. Taboo words are word’s that mean one thing to a culture, but mean something else to another. Therefore, you have to be careful or you will offend someone. My quote is an example of taboo words because the word “tomboy” is used differently throughout cultures and the someone could take offense to the definitions.