Not Too Politically Correct

I've just now remembered this little story that I had intended to write here but forgot.

The last time I did recording for that cram school, I was working with a guy named Roger. Instead of reading a conversation as we sometimes do, we just had to clearly and slowly pronounce words on a list, and we were alternating. Well, you know that many words have two different pronunciations, one for if it's a noun, one for if it's a verb, like research, subject, reject, etc., with the accent on the first syllable for nouns and the second syllable for verbs. We weren't sure if we should read noun or verb, so we were just winging it. So it's Roger's turn, and he reads "REtard." A moment of silence as our eyes meet, then both of us burst into hysterical laughter, pointing at one another and yelling, "Retard! Retard!" while the two guys in the sound booth stared at us with puzzled looks. I had snot coming out of my nose and tears flowing down my face. It took forever for us to calm down, because we'd read a word or two and then start the whole laughter thing again. The Taiwanese guys just didn't get it, even after Roger explained to them what retard means. Some humor just doesn't translate well.