[Duo2400] Re: english english

[Eric L. Strobel]

on 12/13/02 9:27 AM, chuck goolsbee at cglist at mac-mgrs.org wrote:

> WRT the "hearing of other languages" I have a story:
> 
> I was standing on the Shepherd's Bush platform of the Hammersmith &
> City Line tube station one Friday night waiting for a train to
> Paddington, and home... unlike many of the London tube stations this
> one is elevated rather than underground. It was late in the evening
> and in the alley behind the platform there was a row of houses and
> one of them had a loud party with music and many people, obviously
> from west Africa, loudly carrying on. The only other people on the
> platform with me were two veiled south asian women, and one older
> looking English guy in his 60's or so. He looked like a lifetime
> clerk - a post office employee or the like. As he ambled by me he
> cocked his head in the direction of the noise and muttered in a
> east-ender accent: "You wouldn't even know we were in England anymore
> would ya?"
> 
> I was taken aback at first, as I always felt that I stood out as
> being very "different" when in the UK... but then I smiled a
> smart-ass smile and putting on my flattest Pacific Northwesterner's
> accent said:
> "yeah, I guess not."
> 
> The look on his face was *priceless*
> 
> 
> 
> The icing on the cake, was when the train arrived he & I walked into
> the same car, and I watched him as he looked around a sea of black &
> brown faces, and went to the center of the car where the only group
> of white ones were and sat down in the middle of the group of
> blonde-haired students... who as soon as the doors closed and the
> train started moving resumed their loud conversation:
> 
> In Dutch!
> 
> I thought his head was going to explode.

ROFL!  I guess we could nominate that gentleman for an honorary Order of the
Stereotypical American.  ;-)

- Eric.
-- 

Eric Strobel (fyzycyst at NOSPAM^mailaps.org)

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What if the 'Hokey-Pokey' really IS what it's all about??
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