October, 1995 (continued):
Continuing my first visit to New Zealand, on Saturday I presented two different seminars at the R.B.A. convention:
Building A Winning Morning (or, in NZ, “Breakfast”) Show and The Psychology Of Management: How To Motivate Your Staff To Peak Performance.
In the management seminar, I often illustrate a particular point by talking about “the rooting reflex.”
Have you ever noticed that if you gently touch the face of an infant, the child will turn toward your touch? That’s “the rooting reflex.”
(Trust me, it does connect in some way to people management.)
So at that point I asked, “Is anyone familiar with ‘the rooting reflex?’”
A few people smiled, but no one spoke up.
I talked a little about it and then again mentioned “the rooting reflex.” And I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of people were laughing.
Although there are times during this seminar when I am accustomed to people laughing, this was not one of them.
“Okay,” I inquired, “tell me what I said.”
A lot of hemming & hawing from the audience.
Finally someone took pity on me and explained that in New Zealand, “rooting” is slang for sexual intercourse. Apparently it is not the equivalent of the four-letter Anglo-Saxon word; it seems to be closer to the American slang use of “screwing.”
Not obscene, but certainly not polite.
So much for my furthering of American-Kiwi relations (no pun intended.)
