The Written Word vs The Spoken Word.

[DanaC]

Alternatively, there may be cultural differences leading to slightly different associations around some of the words, phrases or concepts.

I remember one discussion around 'smacking' children, which highlighted some distinct differences in attitude between British and American posters, as well as some distinct meanings to words. So, Americans were talking about 'spanking' a kid being ok as a responsible parent, and us Brits were a little shocked by that. Because the word means different things on each side of the pond. What you call spanking, we call smacking. To us, spanking suggests very heavy handed discipline. Old fashioned, humiliating and frankly not done these days.

The difference in meaning didn't come through clearly in the posts at first, so things got a little heated at one point (as these things often do). It took a little while to become apparent we were coming at things from very different places.

That's just one example that springs tomind. Butthere have been a few. We speak the same language, but not entirely.