Our Blog: where do you stand?

Cultural Education

By: Marijean Jaggers | 02/15/2008

A couple of weeks ago, my colleague Kristin and I attended a global trade show on behalf of a client. The attendees were from many different countries and it was interesting to overhear the variety of accents and languages as we walked from booth to booth.

We were sporting standard trade show fashion accessories; the lanyard and plastic-covered nametags with our names, our company and the location. Since Standing's main office is located, technically, in a suburb of St. Louis called Creve Coeur, Missouri, that is how our tags were labeled.

The French and Canadian attendees got a big kick out of our tags, asking us, "How do you pronounce this?" We, like the Americans/Midwesterners we are, were forced to say, "Creeve Core," much to our embarrassment. Our French-speaking friends found this hilarious and correctly pronounced Creve Coeur loudly, and with great delight. Then of course, they wanted to know, "Do you know what this means?" I did not have to rely on my high school or college French to know that Creve Coeur means "broken heart."

As two of a small handful of women at this particular trade show for a male-dominated industry, it was quite ironic to be wandering around branded with signs declaring, "Broken Heart."

Posted in Uncategorized