Do people really understand that we all call things different names?
By cream97
@cream97 (29087)
United States
March 31, 2011 10:35am CST
We all have different norms, beliefs, opinions and various aspects of life that we favor the most of what we have deprived as a person. I believe strongly, that we should be able to have certain views on things without someone trying to change it. I want to share something with you all and want you to tell me how you feel about it. Are you familiar with the term, "Tacks?" Well, whenever I get tacks in my eyes, I clean them out. When I wake up every morning, I have tacks in my eyes. They are always at the corner and at the end of my eyes. They are hard bits that are whitish to yellowish. They usually come when you have slept. If you see them in your eyes, then you will need to wipe them out when you wake up. Well my son told me yesterday that he told a teacher that the things that come out of your eyes is called, "Tacks", and she told him that it wasn't called this. Apparently, the teacher calls it something else. She did not mention what she called it though. I feel that we all should have a right to say what we know. Everyone has a different name for a different thing. We shouldn't try to change others opinions, just because it does not fit the description of our own. There have been many of times that members from myLot have mentioned something on a post, that I am not familiar with and I will just tell them that, "I am not familiar with that term" or "I didn't realize they called it this where you are from". That kind of thing... I never tell a person that what they are calling it, is not what it is. I will allow them to still say what they feel because I understand that we all have different names of calling things. No one should try to change how a person has been accustomed to saying things. In different countries, everyone has different names from the things that we may use. We all should respect that, and try not to change what someone else calls something. Am I correct on this matter?
5 people like this
15 responses
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
31 Mar 11
You are correct with this and my culture is a prime example to me. See I am Puerto Rican and I speak Spanish very fluently. There are many Hispanic Spanish languages and a great many of our words are defined differently, and often times way different. One prime example is that battery for Puerto Ricans means exactly that bateria. For the Mexican culture bateria means bass, as in bass drums.
I would never have known that had I not been corrected, and I certainly appreciated and understood that everyone is not the same and does not utilize the same lingo. So I find it an appreciated learning aspect for me. I would never tell anyone no don't say it like that because why would I allow them to tell me that I am saying it wrong. It is about communicating, discussing and learning.
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
1 Apr 11
So true about Spanish. I took a quickie 8 week course in Spanish years ago with a teacher from some place I don't even remember now. But I lived in TX and there were a lot of Mexicans there and they would laugh at the way I pronounced Spanish words. Like....let's see...the pronunciation of "yo soy" or "jo soy".
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
31 Mar 11
Yes and no.
I've never heard anyone call the stuff in your eyes "tacks". We always called it "sleep" in your eyes. My ex's family called it "goop."
But about your topic....
Sometimes what we learn is that something that is innocent in one country is totally and utterly repulsive in another. And when you're on a forum that has people from all different countries, it's good to know that so you don't insult people.
Heck, just in the US the term that liberals through at members of the TEA party is one that many people claim they never knew was something bad. Once the truly innocent ones discovered what it was, they never used it again. And those who like to be offensive used it twice as much.
1 person likes this
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
31 Mar 11
Ooops. That should be "throw" at TEA party members, of course.
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
31 Mar 11
Hi. kenzie45230. Just as long as it is not repulsive or offensive, people should still respect each others terms that they are so accustomed of using, that is all that I am saying. Even if I am not familiar with their term of the way that they say or use it, and even if they are not familiar with the way that I say or use a term, we both should still respect and accept each others way of saying things, that is what I am trying to say.
@sunnflr (2767)
• United States
31 Mar 11
We call it sleep in the eyes here as well.
I do know what cream is talking about, but my only thing would be this. It was a teacher telling him it wasn't correct. Teachers SHOULD tell kids the correct, medical, term for things if there is one but not reprimand them for calling it something that is a regional/family thing when just talking with friends or such.
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
31 Mar 11
i've never heard that term before,but i know what you mean.
we call them "sleepies" here.
as long as the person knows what you mean,i don't see where it matters.
i've run into teachers before that tried to force their opinion..and i continued
to use my term anyway.
1 person likes this
@much2say (55601)
• Los Angeles, California
31 Mar 11
We call them eye boogers - ha ha. I never heard "tacks" before!! I'm sure there is a more technical medical term for eye boogers, but who cares - yes, you're right that everyone has different names for different things - and that's ok. What grade teacher is your son's teacher? I noticed that quite a few teachers (not all of course) talk as if they have to correct everyone - and I don't know if it's because of the nature of their job or what - I just find many of them do that. Like the other day, my baby son was eating a whole small cucumber when I picked up my daughter from K. All the kids remaining were laughing and saying, look the baby's eating a cucumber! And the teacher says "No, I don't think that's a cucumber, kids, that looks like a ZUCHINNI." Well, the kids were right . . . and I said "Nooo, that IS a cucumber - it's a Persian cucumber which is smaller than the English ones - but yah, I can see how you thought it was a zuchinni" - and then she just said "oh" and changed the subject. Like I said, many of the teachers I know just talk as if they are right about many things.
1 person likes this
@kenzie45230 (3560)
• United States
1 Apr 11
Haha. We call them eye boogers when we're talking dogs or cats.
@tlb0822 (1410)
• United States
2 Apr 11
I think that every culture and area has different names for things. In the way that we all have our own language, we are all also taught to call things different things. Just the way some say creek some say "cre-EEk" while others say "crick". It all depends on where you are from and where you are raised. When I leave the area in which I live people from half way across the state know exactly where I am from just by the way that I talk. In my area we say "yins" and we drink "pop, while in other areas much further south, they say "yall" and drink "soda". I think it is important for all of us to respect the way others talk and what they call things exactly, it adds to the diversity in the world. So after all my rambling, yes I do believe that you are correct in this matter.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
31 Mar 11
I can understand her saying, "interesting, and the scientific word for it is...", but just saying "it isn't called this" shows a lack of understanding.
Reminds me of an ongoing dispute I'm having with a friend over somebody (from Indonesia, I believe) who called her mom, and she is convinced he was being disrespectful, but in his country I believe it's a sign of respect.
1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
1 Apr 11
To a certain extent, yes, but that stops just short of allowing a child, especially, to misuse a word, not just use a local or colloquial term. After all, we need to be able to communicate, or the whole purpose of language is lost. So saying, e.g., "aks," rather than "ask," would need correction. But if you're in Texas, you can say "mosquitoes," but you'll also hear the local term "skeeters." And Australia has the charming variation, "mozzies!" I love learning other folks' terms for familiar things.
By the way, we always called tacks "eye goobers." 
Maggiepie
"In art, economy is always beauty." ~ Henry James
Maggiepie
"In art, economy is always beauty." ~ Henry James
@veejay19 (3589)
• India
1 Apr 11
Yes, i also have noticed that many objects have different names in different countries and many people refer to certain things using different words.In the UK and India the word is petrol but in USA the word is gas.The word tacks which you have used also has a different meaning and that is nails, not the one on your hands but what you use in carpentry, if i am not mistaken.English is a funny language and a student from the UK or India who attends will at first get puzzled as the words he uses at home have a completely different meaning there and an American student studying in UK will also get foxed when he finds that the words he uses at home will be called by another name.Without getting into any controversy i feel that its best to adapt oneself to the country where one lives and get used to the words and language there.
@celticeagle (166911)
• Boise, Idaho
1 Apr 11
I have never heard that term before but, like you, I wouldn't say something disrespectful to you just because you use this terminology. Now days especially there are so many nicknames and terms being used for things. I think it is interesting and always try to figure out where the nickname came from. Ticks huh? I get them bad.
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
1 Apr 11
It can be as serious as culture changing to tell someone that what they are saying is wrong or bad. I do know there are certain things that are offensive in some cultures but not known so in others but all in all...there is a right to retain culture. I mean, your son will grow up and tell his children...and then theirs will tell their own. What the teacher said is one of the reasons there have been so many languages wiped off the earth. In a more extreme case, of course, but I understand what you mean.
@jaiho2009 (39141)
• Philippines
31 Mar 11
hello cream,
Here in our country where we have so many dialects,more than a hundred and having different dialect really caused some problem with communication.
But yes,we should not argue with the right word to be use ,just explained that we use different words/names for things.
Like for example here in our country,some words are of the same,but differ in it's meaning.
Like "bao" (coconut shell) for our mother tongue Filipino...but for the northern part of our country "bao" means "rat" 
..isn't interesting.
Or having same names for a particular thing,but differ with pronunciation...it's fun..let's learn.
have a good day
..isn't interesting.
Or having same names for a particular thing,but differ with pronunciation...it's fun..let's learn.
have a good day
@jennyze (7028)
• Indonesia
1 Apr 11
You are right in a way that someone should not try to change the way we believe, we do, we live, we calls something, etc. But I believe that we still need to learn and tolerate what others do, live, believe and call something. It does not hurt to learn more, that's all I need to say.
Hey, thank you. So now I know what is the English word for that thing that comes up on our eyes: tacks, sleepies...?
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
31 Mar 11
You call them 'tacks'; I call them 'sleepies'. Neither of us is wrong. The only time when your word or my word is 'wrong' is when it fails to communicate our meaning correctly or confuses someone.
The other time when a word is wrong is when it is clearly misused (look up the meaning of 'deprived' and see whether you used is correctly in your first sentence above: I understood your meaning, I think, but 'deprived' was not what you intended, I believe! Perhaps 'derived' was the word you were looking for?)
In the first case, there is nothing to be gained by saying that a particular word for something is wrong (though by learning what other people call it we can learn something). In the second case, a (hopefully) gentle correction is part of the learning process that we all should be open to all through our lives.
