[ameister14]

Interesting - so from the perspective of a non-english speaker, would you say that a phrase like 'that cost an arm and a leg!' is likely to offend you?

[estebarb]

Yes, because in other languages things costs less body parts. In Spanish, for example things just costs an eye or a kidney.

Spanish -> literal translation

Me costó un ojo -> it costs me an eye

Me costó un riñón -> it costs me a kidney

(Edited for format)

[lavabiopsy]

I can't answer that question because I am a native English speaker, but I can say, I would probably not use that phrase around non-native English speakers. It's confusing and could be misinterpreted. Generally one would want to avoid using idioms like that when trying to cross a language barrier.

[ameister14]

The problem with that is that the person's intent isn't to cross the language barrier.

Many languages have idioms involving body parts like this. In French it's couter les yeux de la tete, similar in Italian where it's costare un occhio della testa. One in Mandarin that means something different is 削足适履, about cutting your feet to fit your shoes.

I get that idioms don't always translate well (some actually do, especially literal ones that are less referential like cost an arm and a leg) but I'd be careful before invoking misunderstanding with theoretical groups of non-english speakers.

[lavabiopsy]

And yet, all of those could be misinterpreted by someone who is not familiar with that.

>I'd be careful before invoking misunderstanding with theoretical groups of non-english speakers.

If you're being cautious (as is common for a large website to do) then this is totally backwards -- you would actually need to be careful with invoking understanding when it comes to theoretical groups of non-english speakers. You can't start by assuming that everything that is said is going to be understood perfectly (Though I really wish that was possible, it would make it a lot easier to teach math, physics, history, etc).

[blondin]

let's stay on track here.

that expression is an idiom. other languages have idioms that native english speakers would find weird.

as far as the tweet that started all this, it sounded too serious in my opinion.

kanye west (not sure if it was him who said it first) was correct with this one: adding an emoji would have sent a clearer message. blink blink smiley face or something.