living in the US right now, if they overhear me talking about frozen water (ice), they might not understand the whole sentence, meaning or context but the word ice will stand out and sound like ICE, which is a terrifying word, especially to immigrants who don’t speak much English. I have no problem calling ICE the Gestapo. But that won’t prevent me from accidentally scaring immigrants when I’m talking about frozen water.
I was in an Uber a few nights ago around midnight when it was freezing and I casually said “Ice is not my friend” talking about the weather. My friend noticed that the driver was visibly startled when I said the word ice while talking about the weather. So I’m trying not to use the word ice when talking about frozen water anymore unless I’m home or someplace I know I won’t accidentally terrify someone whose first language is not English.
It’s kind of like how I can’t say anything trumps anything anymore. Things can be beaten, topped, outdone, outclassed, upstaged — but never trumped.
