What still confounds you about travel?
 

There was a European country where I constantly confused the postal box with the street trash depositories, which country I can't recall. What things befuddle you when traveling?

I have the worst time trying to remember to validate my ticket before getting on a train. Not confused.....just forgetful!

Why fanny packs aren't more popular.

<< Why fanny packs aren't more popular. >>

That's 'cause they've seen you wearing yours! :S-

Oy, maps. I always get turned around. My sense of direction is dreadful.

Why fanny packs aren't more popular.

Because the Brits, think it is something else.

Whatever they are I guess they aren't popular.

Funny how a word means different things even when used in what is supposedly the same language, English.

The word you used coldupthere as the name of the small pack you wear around your waist, translates in the UK to a very bad swear word for the female genitalia. In N. America it would the equivalent of going around talking about your 'c*nt pack'.

Sorry I used the 'C' word but it is the only way to get you to see the shock of what the person hears you saying.

Funnily enough, using the 'C' word in the UK is nowhere near as bad as using that 'f***y' word.

When you use the word you mean a 'bum bag' because it was originally meant to be worn hanging behind you. Many do wear them in front but that was not where the name came from. It is of course quite acceptable to refer to your rear end as a 'f***y' in N. America. Whole different meaning in the UK.

So stick to 'bum bag' which offends no one.

Countless things like this confound me about travel IMDoneHere. But maybe confound isn't the right word. Confuse, suprise, amuse are what I am more likely to say about them.

I always recall waiting for a letter of some importance to arrive in Greece. I was staying there for a while. After a couple of weeks of checking my mailbox every day, I asked my landlord if the mailmen were on strike or something. No mail was being delivered at all.

His response was, 'It's August'. Ummm, yes, andddd? He gave a 'tch' sound which translates as 'Isn't it obvious' and then said, 'The mailman always takes his vacation in August.' Ummm, yes, andddd? 'If he is on vacation, how can you expect him to deliver the mail?'

Greeks are nothing if not logical. LOL

If I wanted my mail I was free to visit the village post office where they would let me search through the pile of mail bags for myself.

Now there you go, I originally wrote the word 'c*nt' with the 'u' in it. Fodors would not let me post it. I got a message, 'profanity, edit before posting'.

So Fodors won't allow 'c*nt' but it will allow f***y with the 'ann' included which is just as bad for some readers. Talk about your double standards.

Didn't Jane Austen have a character named F***y? Did she not know what it meant or has the word's meaning evolved over time. What do British readers think when they read Sense and Sensibility?

I'm confounded.

<<So Fodors won't allow 'c*nt' but it will allow f***y with the 'ann' included which is just as bad for some readers. Talk about your double standards.>>

American internet hegemony. You could easily shag a fly ball in the US; doing it in the UK or Australia would be pornographic.

And if you used the rhymeswithhunt word to describe an American female and didn't get a whomping, you should be surprised.

OMG. I will never use that f****y pack again. In fact it is right here beside me now. I can't even look at it.

Chorus from the song The Weight

Take a load off, Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off, Fanny
And (and) (and) you put the load right on me
(You put the load right on me)

I don't know what crowd you hang out with deux, but I can assure you the "C" word is most certainly NOT more acceptable than "fanny" anywhere I know in the UK, NZ or Australia.

Saying you're using a "fanny pack" will make you the subject of an askance glance & perhaps a snigger; people will assume you are ignorant of its meaning in the locality. Possibly, someone will gently inform you it's probably not the best word for that item here.

Calling someone a "c" is disgusting. Leaves no doubt as to your character & may well lead to a re-arrangement of your facial features if you use it to the wrong person. You would most certainly be pulled up very sharply in most instances.

One is an innocent error of language & location. The other is the lowest of the low in all of the languages in which it is known.

At least that's how it is in my & the generally accepted English speaking world. I wouldn't presume to know what's acceptable in yours.

When I was newly married to my Practice Wife , who was British, we went to England to meet her parents. I was speaking to her "very" proper Mother, and telling her how her Daughter and I had met hiking with the Sierra Club in California. I mentioned that we fellows would jostle each other to see who would follow the young lady on the trail because we loved to watch her well shaped fanny (a perfectly innocuous American slang term for a well turned derriere).

I thought her Mom was going to have a stroke.

So nukesafe I gather that marriage ended when only one of you took a hike?

Wow - how did this turn?

Adrienne. ...

I can always rely on this forum to give me a chuckle! :)

Yes, cold?