Башка-bashka (from Turkish/Tatar origin)

I decided to dedicate this week to fun words for various body parts.

“Stone head” a movie about a boxer. A sport where having a resilient noggin is undoubtedly very useful.

One of my friends taught me that is was funny to say “башка болит” when I had a headache.  So I went around saying this getting laughs from Russians.  Then one day I was in class and my teacher asked me, “Джейни, вы в порядке?” “Janey are you okay?” and I replied, “Башка немного болит” “my noggin hurts a little”.  My teacher flipped out. She was so mad at me.  She said, “Не надо говорить такие слова мне” “Don’t say such words to me”.  I didn’t get it. I had been saying that phrase for months and no one ever even flinched. My teacher went on to explain that sometimes words of Turkish/Tatar origin had a bad or even crude connotation in Russia.  And that those words should not be spoken in formal settings. I had no idea. Ahhh, making a fool of yourself and offending people it’s all an inevitable part of language learning, I suppose.