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It Is Not a Cultural Thing
Sep. 18th, 2009 09:48 pmToday I had an intersting experience that showed that cultural references should not be assumed. This week I attended a class that used the detective Sherlock Holmes as an example of somebody who collected data and then deduced a solution. A Puerto Rico co-worker did not know who Sherlock Holmes was. In response another Puerto Rico co-worker said "it is not a cultural thing".
The really fascinating twist is that my co-workers statement can be interpreted in two ways. I believe he was saying that the reference should have been recoginized, and that ignorance of the detective's identiy was not explained by a different cultural immersion. OR, my co-worker could have been saying that it was understandable that the reference was not understood for thee very same reason.
Our origins can both accuse and explain ignorance of knowledge not congruent to the same origin. Is either better or worse? Probably not.
The really fascinating twist is that my co-workers statement can be interpreted in two ways. I believe he was saying that the reference should have been recoginized, and that ignorance of the detective's identiy was not explained by a different cultural immersion. OR, my co-worker could have been saying that it was understandable that the reference was not understood for thee very same reason.
Our origins can both accuse and explain ignorance of knowledge not congruent to the same origin. Is either better or worse? Probably not.
