When An Earworm Becomes A Danger
"The mistaken use of one word in place of a similar sounding one, often with an amusing effect."
This is the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of a malapropism. What it fails to mention is that said amusing effect could potentially cost you your job (or at least get you a severe reprimand) depending on what sort of slip of the tongue you make in what profession. As a teacher of English as a second language to young kids, malapropisms are a very realistic and dangerous aspect of my career as I can (sometimes intentionally, but mostly unintentionally) make highly inappropriate mistakes in multiple languages. Fortunately, I have managed to go over a decade without a career-ending worthy slip (that anyone heard), but there was one particular period where I had to be VERY careful because of an unexpected threat from the combination of a catchy song and my love of pro-wrestling.
It was the spring of 2018 when the movie "Coco" was released in Japan (though here it was titled "Remember Me"). I saw the movie, I laughed and I cried, and I got the songs stuck in my head. And while "Remember Me" is a nice song, the one that I enjoyed the most was "Un Poco Loco."
Working with kids, I often hear music from the latest popular movies and TV shows at school (some teachers will play music students request during breaks, and many schools play music during lunchtime), and the "Coco" soundtrack was no exception. I also would occasionally listen to it on my own because it was fun and catchy. As I sang along, I noticed, fortunately while I was at home, that I would sometimes unintentionally swap out one of the words in the title of the song for something else. If you know your New Japan finishing moves, you can probably guess where this is going.
Yeah, I was regularly switching out "poco," which means "a little," for "pinche," which means... well, I'll give you a minute to look it up. I did not actually know what pinche meant at the time and looked it up because of this (and, when I did, I went both "Oh!" and "Ah..." at the same time).
Now, I teach in English in Japan, so you may be wondering why this little slip would matter, even if pinche isn't a word you would want to say in front of little ones. For one thing, in Tokyo you can never be 100% sure how what and how many languages people speak, so there was a small, but still real, possibility that I could have said it in front of a student who did understand the word. However, even if no student ever understood, they might hear me say it and repeat it in front of someone who did understand. Or, the most likely case, they would hear me say it, ask me why I used the wrong word and/or what pinche meant, and look it up for themselves if they did not like when I tried to evade the answer. And that would have assured that the word and its meaning spread around to other kids like a proverbial wildfire. I got lucky and never made this mistake while at work, and eventually the music from "Coco" faded from the classroom playlists (though, to this day, I still occasionally hear "Remember Me" during lunchtime broadcasts), so the danger passed. I had to be very careful for a few months there though. I have had other close calls throughout the years (including a yearly battle to not say "Your mom" thanks to a unit activity in one of the textbooks I use), but this has been the only incident directly related to pro-wrestling. Well, the only incident thus far.
And, to tell you the truth, when I am home in my apartment blasting Disney's greatest hits to help me get through whatever chores need to get done, I am now absolutely on purpose singing "Un pinche loco!" whenever said song comes on.
Comments
Post a Comment