An Indispensible Guide to Dangerous English! for Language Learners and Others by Elizabeth Claire Pictures by eluki bes shahar Delta Systems, Co, Inc. §70 Rock Road Drive, Unit H Dundee, IL 60118-9922Contents To the Teacher x What is “Dangerous English”? 1 The Social Classes of English Words 3 “Safe” and “Dangerous” Words for a Necessary Daily Function 7 “Dangerous English” Goes to the Movies 10 Safe Words for Dangerous Clothing 12 Dangerous English with Double Meanings 13 How Safe is Your English? Test Yourself 16 Answers 17 More Dangerous Doubles 20 Dangerous Synonyms 21 A. The Human Body: Male or Female 22 B. The Human Body: Male 23 C. The Human Body: Female 24 D. In the Bathroom 26 E. In the Bedroom 29 F. On the Street 33 Dangerous People: Perverts and Perversions 35 Dangers in the Doctor's Office 36 Religious Taboos 41 Correct Your Dangerous Pronunciation 42 Safe and Dangerous Words for Races, Religions, and Nationalities 46 Dangerous Body Language 53 A. Personal Space 53 B. Touching 54 C. Gestures 56 Dangerous Definitions and Sample Sentences for 700 Words and Idiomatic Expressions 58 Bibliography 127Wh ‘| mm [~ WEL COME:Introduction An Indispensible Guide to Dangerous English! was originally published as A Foreign Student's Guide to Dangerous English! The guide has been revised and updated, and contains these new features: ¢ hundreds of new words * more pictures to clarify meanings « dangerous nonverbal communication in gestures, touching and personal distance ¢ dangerous ethnic terms and insults * common reproductive or urogenital medical conditions and doctors’ procedures * explanations of movie ratings * explanations of religious taboo words and their euphemisms * new format for dangerous synonymsAcknowledgments I would like to gratefully acknowledge the encouragement, assistance and the scholarship of the world’s foremost authority on dangerous words in any language, Dr. Reinhold Aman, editor of Maledicta, The International Journal of Verbal Aggression. There are many other friends and colleagues to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for their reports on current use of the words included in this book. They served as my ears into places I do not go, and told me the words that wouldn't be spoken in my presence even if | had gone. As I promised them, their contributions shall remain anonymous, but definitely not unappreciated. Thanks to Janet Cuccinelli for her courageous and medically expert copyediting, and to Terri Lehmann for research, office support, and all-around gofering. Thanks to David Corona, of David Corona Design, for the special care he took with the design, typesetting, paging and all-around expediting of the production. I'd also like to thank Dick Patchin, of Delta Systems for his market vision for the new edition of the book, making it available at a modest cost to the many new speakers of English who need it. viiiAbout the Author Believe it or not, Elizabeth Claire is a mild-mannered grandmother from New Jersey. She graduated magna cum laude from the City College of New York, was elected into Phi Beta Kappa, and received the Downer Medal of Excellence for Hispanic Studies. She received the her Master's Degree in TESOL from New York University under an Experienced Teacher Fellowship Program. She has taught English as a Second Language for twenty years to students of all ages, and wrote the original edition of Dangerous English because she was too embarrassed to explain terms she knew her students wanted and needed. When, in 1980, no publishing company was willing to take the risk of publishing this guide, she borrowed money from her even milder-mannered mother to produce and market the work that has since become a classic in the field. Ms. Claire is currently a materials writer, teacher trainer and ESL consultant. Her other books are all completely safe for classroom use! They are: Three Little Words: A, An, and The (A Foreign Student's Guide to English Articles) What's So Funny? (A Foreign Student's Guide to American Humor) The ESL Teacher's Activities Kit The ESL Teacher's Holiday Activ: The ESL Wonder Workbooks #1 This Is Me #2 All Around Me HI! ESL for Children HI! Teacher's Guide Just a Minute! An Oral Language-Learning GameTo the Teacher You may think twice before using An Indispensible Guide to Dangerous English in your classroom. After all, it is dangerous. These interesting and useful words are highly charged with social taboos. But one thing is for sure: most of your students will learn the concepts and expressions in this book with less effort and more involvement than any other subject matter in English! Sentences are kept short, new words are explained, and grammatical patterns are fairly simple. An adult student at the intermediate level of ESL can handle the material with some instruction and discussion. An advanced student may be able to progress on his or her own. Here are some ideas that have worked for other instructors of adult ESL students. Choose among these options: A. Separate your class into two groups: Teach the group that is the same sex as you are, and ask a colleague or “guest lecturer”of the opposite sex to teach the other group. Be very clear with your students in advance about the content you are going to be covering so that students who don’t want to participate can have an alternative assignment. B. Even if you are comfortable talking about these terms to a mixed audience, your students may not be. Announce, “Next week we will talk about sexual and bathroom terms. If any of you think you will find this embarrassing or offensive, see me after class today for an alternative assignment for you. You won’t have to come to class. If you complete this other assignment, you won't be marked absent.” Use one or two class periods to get the students started with the basics and have them continue on their own. (The teachers who have used this technique report that no one has ever taken the option to do an alternative assignment.)C. Organize a new class for the specific purpose of learning slang and vulgar English. There is enough material for discussion and vocabulary learning for a five-week course that meets two hours a week. Supplement it with some “R” movies of the “tough cop” variety as outside assignments. D. Keep a few copies of Dangerous English on a reference shelf. Make students aware of the book’s existence and the nature of its contents, and allow them to borrow a copy and study it in private. E. Order copies for your students’ own use, or have them order their own. You may photocopy the order blank at the end of the book. If you have chosen to use Dangerous English as a text for classroom instruction, here are some further suggestions: Announce that they will be using a book called Dangerous English. What do they think the title means? What would Dangerous Japanese, or Dangerous Spanish mean to them? What kinds of words would they put in a book of Dangerous __ of their own language? Read the overview, “What is ‘Dangerous English’?” Conduct a discussion to find out what their concerns are in this area of language. For example, some students may be more concerned about learning correct anatomical terms and their correct pronunciation and avoiding the unintended use of vulgar language. Others may want to know what the guys in the dorms are talking about, and how to fit in. Others will be most interested in the cultural insights that a study of expressions will reveal Let your students know your feelings about the words. After all, words are only sounds, but they can generate powerful visceral reactions. Confess your embarrassment if you feel it. Or your general amusement at the words if that’s what you feel. Let them know that, in any case, people vary in their reactions, and you expect them to have varied reactions. The difference is that Americans have been conditioned to react in certain ways to the sounds of these dangerous terms, but to your students, it will just be new sounds. The danger lies in the lack of a conditioned awareness of the reactions different groups of Americans will have when they hear these words spoken. xi