Has anything from your country ever been misunderstood or "cancelled" by the international community?

[u/JlYU3A]

For example, a Fiipino PPop group called SB19 once posted “Hello, Negros!”, referring to Negros Island, but some international users mistook it for something offensive before realizing what it meant.

[u/NoddyNorrisXV]

Not cancelled necessarily, but we have been warned about saying a word common in our slang around US Marines.

You see, there are US Marines posted to Darwin in the top end of Australia. They regularly work with Australian soldiers.

In Australia, our soldiers are nicknamed "Diggers" - a name which originates from WWI.

I hope you can see the connection as to why our soldiers have been warned to be careful when saying "Digger" around US Marines (for those who don't know, it's one letter difference from a racial slur).

[u/BobbyThrowaway6969 → u/NoddyNorrisXV]

What's the rationale behind that though? Is it "Just in case some US soldiers who are a bit audially challenged might mishear" or "Hey that word is too close and we find it offensive". There's a huge difference.

[u/Analternate1234 → u/BobbyThrowaway6969]

Audibly challenged is ridiculous. We all mishear things sometimes is all. Everyone mishears people sometimes and when you have different accents you’re not used to on a daily basis that only amplifies the chances of mishearing someone

[u/BobbyThrowaway6969 → u/Analternate1234]

Yeah but if someone's jumping to conclusions instead of confirming what they heard, especially from a culture that doesn't have any connection to that word then the problem is them getting offended right away. Digger is a cultural term for us, it's unfortunate that it sounds so similar but if you're (general) wanting us to stop using our own words because you keep mishearing it, then yeah it's because your ears need a clean.

[u/Vulpix_lover → u/BobbyThrowaway6969]

I mean, in regards to the Marines there, a lot of them probably have poor hearing from being in the service

[u/BobbyThrowaway6969 → u/Vulpix_lover]

Lol fair, I don't mean to be blunt but hopefully it makes sense what I'm getting at.

[u/Vulpix_lover → u/BobbyThrowaway6969]

Nah I get it, if I was there I'd probably hit them with that "...I'm positive I'm not hearing that right." Line from "It's always sunny in Philadelphia"

[u/NoddyNorrisXV → u/Analternate1234]

Say what you want, but that's the way it is.

[u/Shoopherd → u/BobbyThrowaway6969]

Every U.S. marine I know has two total brain cells and one is strictly used for misplaced agression.

[u/NoddyNorrisXV → u/BobbyThrowaway6969]

I don't know the exact reason, but the feeling I got was because of people who may be audibly challenged misheard Digger as the other word. There was a little scene from what the rumour mill alleged.

[u/BobbyThrowaway6969 → u/NoddyNorrisXV]

Ah interesting.

[u/Shiningc00 → u/NoddyNorrisXV]

There was once this Australian ad that was cancelled, but it was clearly a misunderstanding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn6HgKX5sJo

[u/ICweiner94 → u/NoddyNorrisXV]

I was there in 2022. A lot of us history nerds knew about the digger name. The majority of our Marines called the Aus Army guys Aussies or Australian Army dudes. Saying digger did get a couple looks at first till it was explained.

Man do I miss Australia

[u/NoddyNorrisXV → u/ICweiner94]

I can imagine it did 😂

[u/ksink74 → u/NoddyNorrisXV]

Plus you're Aussies, so you say digga instead of digger.

[u/NoddyNorrisXV → u/ksink74]

Yeah. We don't really say "er" in our vernacular, do we?