Recently I found out on webtoons that a potential subscriber gave up on the English version of my comic after the first chapter used a slur, which I thought was just a word that could be used with no problem as ever since a child, at my country, media and people, even children used it often.
Word
"Retarded"
I would like to drop a few "F-bombs every now and then ala Marvel, but this wasn't the WTF word, and after some research, it really made sense to me as to why I shouldn't have used it, and changed it.
However, on the Spanish version of the comic (Spanish is my mother tongue, tengo el poder de la ñ), that same line, in Spanish, did make one subscriber laugh as I first intended. I changed the word regardless.
One word (or possible translations of that word) can be far more offensive in one culture than it is in other, even within the same country.
Nonetheless, at least here at Latin-America, several creators often upload their content on both English and their mother tongue, but not all of us always had the context of when to use or not certain words.
I have seen a few other reactions to some words/expressions from English natives and why they are inappropriate, and with no negative intention I gotta say: Several of those words/expressions are used casually in my country, even at the more USA-like "upper class".
So I wanted to ask, and please be respectful,
To my fellow non-native English speakers: What similar experiences have you had in which an English word/expression you deemed as "normal" was really undesirable for English natives, and how you dealt with it?
To native English speakers: Has there been any words in the last ten years that were often used in mainstream media, that are now inappropriate? Or any words that you've noticed non-native speakers often used wrong and could put us in trouble?
How violent/offensive my action comics would be for people from English native countries was something I was really afraid of when I started publishing it here, and it surprised me that, besides the actual action, the first negatives I received on violence, were because of words.
No comic is made for everyone and I won't change mine for every single criticism, but I thought this topic was worth discussing, and to prevent non-native English creators from giving the wrong idea to their audiences.