Such as the word wicked in English. It originally meant bad, of evil intent. It still has that meaning for my generation. But to later generations it means the opposite, extremely good
The American text WTF for what the f..
Over time, the blessing, God be with you,
has been abbreviated to goodbye.
In the 1960s f... would have been a rare and shocking word. Now it is so commonplace it is merely vulgar.
is standard.
In English to call an older man grandad could be insulting. But in Asian countries where the aged are still respected it is a polite form of address, also called an honorificMandarin has several tones bur simple or succinct grammar.
A Chinese shop assistant greets a potential shopper with the word. Yes? An English shop assistant would say. Can I help you?
When a Chinese shop assistant asks, 'Do you want to buy or not?' he or she is translating a standard sentence structure in Mandarin for asking a question. However, an English assistant would ask, are you interested in this item. Do you want or not is a long sentence implying exasperation. Meaning, make up your mind. Ending with a negative is negative. An assistant could, ask. 'You don't like this one?'
Or, say, apologetically, 'Sorry, I can't help you, or sorry we could not help you this time, or even, 'Thanks for looking.' Or, 'Do come back again.' It is essential to smile
You can end, have a nice day. A waiter could say of your choice of food. A good choice, of shoes, I hope you'll be happy with it.
In Singapore and India, if the shopkeeper has sold you a lot of items
Or sold at a high price, as you may later discover at another shop, the shopkeeper will give a small gift, a scarf
A key ring or magnet. If they give you a gift worth two dollars in their shop it is only costing them one dollar. Win win all around.
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