Assuming a Listener Does Not Speak the Language
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
Indeed, my wife and I were at a Greek festival where my wife bought some Loukoumades[^] and hands the person $20, the cashier gives change for $10. My wife mentions the discrepancy, and the person mutters something like "you cheap, thieving American" in Greek, thinking that we are trying to rip them off. At which point my wife tells them "I'm neither cheap nor thieving nor blind" in Greek. Their expressions were priceless. :laugh:
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment "Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst "I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
In the mid 1980s I was based in Singapore for a couple of years and picked up a smattering of various dialects. For some reason the only Cantonese I knew (outside of ordering food and drinks) was very rude. One day in Hong Kong I was crossing the street and a cab driver yelled at me "Go :elephant: your mother", a general purpose insult. He almost drove up the nearest lamp post when I shouted back "And the same with your father", the traditional rejoinder.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
Yes, Some years ago I was out for dinner with a Norwegian colleague and his wife. They are constantly making fun of 'Fat Americans' and our excessive lifestyles. We were waiting for the pedestrian signal to cross the street and there was a very large woman waiting with us. They were laughing and making fun of her weight (in Norwegian) and for some reason her hair. When the pedestrian signal changed the large woman turned around and fluently thanked them for their kind words. The large lady was Norwegian. There are only about 5 million Norwegians in the world so for the rest of the night we discussed the probability of the encounter.
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
Not only heard... I have been involved in several of them... in several combinations. Being the one embarrassed and being the one embarrassing others. With Spanish and with German in several lands. It might be very funny, yes :-D Specially if you are a bit evil 😈
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
When I was studying in the nineties we had a guy in the student house that was half Swedish and half Czech. He used to spend his summers in Czechia, and as a student he worked in the summers as a tourist guide in Prague. He used to bring the tourists to various restaurants in town and helping them to order food. After having discussed the orders, in Swedish, with the tourists and ordered the food in perfect Prague dialect, he usually got a lot of apologies from the servants for bringing him the wrong menu. You see, in those times the prices differed between English, German and Czech menus. To make it possible for the locals to eat out more often.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
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When I was studying in the nineties we had a guy in the student house that was half Swedish and half Czech. He used to spend his summers in Czechia, and as a student he worked in the summers as a tourist guide in Prague. He used to bring the tourists to various restaurants in town and helping them to order food. After having discussed the orders, in Swedish, with the tourists and ordered the food in perfect Prague dialect, he usually got a lot of apologies from the servants for bringing him the wrong menu. You see, in those times the prices differed between English, German and Czech menus. To make it possible for the locals to eat out more often.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello
Jörgen Andersson wrote:
You see, in those times the prices differed between English, German and Czech menus. To make it possible for the locals to eat out more often.
Not exactly the same.. but having some German guests in Spain before the Euro-Devise, we went out to have lunch with typical "Tapas"... when the bill came in pesetas, he looked us asking how much that would be in DM (German Marks) when my father calculated the exchange... he asked for a second round. :-D :-D
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
My wife and I were taking a scenic ferry ride across Sydney Harbour recently. Two Japanese girls seated behind us talking about friends and many other things... some "interetsing". As we were leaving the ferry at the destination I turned to them, greeted them in Japanese and wished them well. The looks on their faces were like what has been described in other replies. Of course they couldn't have known that I worked in Japan for 9 months some 46 years ago.
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
I've often said that I want to learn Spanish for no other reason than to listen in on others during an elevator ride.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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Pardon the awkward title. I was referring to a story I read : After two girls gossiped about a man in an elevator, his unexpected response led to the 'loudest scream'[^]. The scream was because he revealed to them he had understood everything they said. I have heard two similar stories from the individuals directly involved. They are rather amusing, even more so when they tell them. 1. A friend was attending San Jose State and was between classes so he sat on a bench in a square between buildings. He is not Asian but he grew up in the Bay Area and picked up a fair amount of a Vietnamese language (Viet?) from his neighbors. A group of Vietnamese girls were sitting nearby and commenting about his appearance and the size of his biceps. He acted like he didn't understand a word they said until he decided to leave. He walked by them and said, "have a very nice day, girls" in Vietnamese. He said their mouths dropped open and they were very embarrassed to the point of turning pale. 2. Another friend is nearly six-feet tall and a former Marine. One time when she was still in the service she went to a grocery story to pick up something. Two Mexican guys were in line behind her and they were both barely over five-feet tall. They were talking in Spanish about how big she is and how they'd like to climb her and ... Finally, she turned around and said, in Spanish, "I may be a gringa but I'll kick both of your little asses if you keep it up." Apparently their reactions were quite similar to that of the Vietnamese girls. Funny stuff. Have any of you heard similar stories?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
The Opposite. Circa 1994, I was in Russia with 2 Friends. We did NOT speak the language, LOL. We got in the WRONG Line for a boat around St. Petersburg. Without knowing. And 5 minutes into the trip, we are doing a B-Line to "somewhere". We went from "relaxing and joking" to "Hair standing up on our necks"... We simply cannot find out where we are going. OMG, I am almost crying right now, typing this. We get CHASED off the boat (we tried to stay, but they FORCED us off). and then I heard it... The QUEENS ENGLISH... Amazing with all of those people, my brain picked up SOMEONE speaking English. I pushed through the line, and found an Englishman and his wife, holding a book of poetry... I said: "This is going to sound incredibly American... But where are we?" They ROARED... Explained it was the Summer Palace... and it was HONESTLY one of the BEST DAYS we spent in Russia. Beautiful, Peaceful... Incredible. They got a good laugh out of our story... As did we...
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The Opposite. Circa 1994, I was in Russia with 2 Friends. We did NOT speak the language, LOL. We got in the WRONG Line for a boat around St. Petersburg. Without knowing. And 5 minutes into the trip, we are doing a B-Line to "somewhere". We went from "relaxing and joking" to "Hair standing up on our necks"... We simply cannot find out where we are going. OMG, I am almost crying right now, typing this. We get CHASED off the boat (we tried to stay, but they FORCED us off). and then I heard it... The QUEENS ENGLISH... Amazing with all of those people, my brain picked up SOMEONE speaking English. I pushed through the line, and found an Englishman and his wife, holding a book of poetry... I said: "This is going to sound incredibly American... But where are we?" They ROARED... Explained it was the Summer Palace... and it was HONESTLY one of the BEST DAYS we spent in Russia. Beautiful, Peaceful... Incredible. They got a good laugh out of our story... As did we...
That is very good one. :thumbsup: Curiously, I studied quite a bit of Russian in high school and college. I have had a few cases of understanding bits from people talking nearby but never an embarrassing kind of thing. One time was rather funny - I was sitting in an airport waiting area before boarding and some people were speaking Russian nearby. They said something rather funny and when I chuckled along with them I got some very odd looks. I just smiled at them and when back to my surfing. My sister went to Russia, when Gorbachev was in charge, and I still regret not joining her on that trip. I have no interest what so ever in going now.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"