Cultural Misunderstandings
Here are a few funny stories that I have heard about foreigners visiting Kosrae and the cultural misunderstandings that followed. Kut When the first missionaries visited Kosrae the locals greeted them with fresh coconuts. The missionaries were thirsty and said “good, good” when they saw the coconuts. The locals went about their business and show up a few minuets later with a bowl of head lice for the missionaries to eat. The missionaries were very shocked by this. It turns out that the Kosraen word for head lice is “Kut” pronounced like “Gud” and they thought that the missionaries were asking to eat head lice. Fuk A few decades ago an official from Guam was visiting Kosrae. A woman on Kosrae had heard that people from Guam liked to eat Fruit Bats and she captured some bats to try to sell to him for money. The woman knocks on the door of the hotel room where the official is staying. The official opens the door and sees the woman holding two bats and is a little confused. The woman s...