One thing that I can’t get used to is that in English people refer to the cross I wear around my neck as “a necklace.” In Russian a cross is a cross. Every time it’s “please remove your necklace” and I say “I’m not wearing one.” Then we stare at each other dumbly.
4 responses to “Linguistic Issue”
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Baptismal crosses aren’t a thing in US culture. Lots of people wear a cross, but it is a tiny minority who received one at their baptism that they expect to wear every day, all the time. So we tend to think of any jewelry as decorative. Does it help to think of the chain that your cross hangs on as a “necklace” instead?
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I have yet to hear anyone refer to a cross as a necklace, though, unless they didn’t see the cross. They may be considered decorative, but everyone I know just calls it a cross. Baptismal cross or not, it still has more spiritual significance than a necklace.
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“Does it help to think of the chain that your cross hangs on as a “necklace””
That’s what I was thinking… a cross is one thing you can put on a necklace which is how I’d probably refer to the whole thing, for me the cross would be the cross itself and not what it’s attached to or hanging from.
But then I’m areligious.LikeLike
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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