"Good morning" I said to the young girl behind the counter. "I am here to check your scales, could you tell me where they are?" "Yes" she replied. "What sort of tree was it?"
OK, I admit, I was in dark and deep Ohio, probably 1 mile from civilisation, But I was speaking English, London English admittedly, but English never the less.
I had had trouble with the word "scales" before, and working for a company that repaired, installed, built and serviced scales, it was a problem. After approximately a week of trouble with it I discovered its best to preface the word with another word. IE "Truck Scale" or "Counting Scale" with quite a bit of success.
Then of course I would forget and get the response above. (Although the "What tree" response was unique. Normally it would be a "Huh?" or a lot of "Where Y'all from?") It took some "splaining" to the girl behind the counter, but she was young and and fascinated by my accent.
My other adventures into American Language problems come from "Drive Thru" restaurants. McDonald's works well on most occasions, but I run into "Please pull round" when I ask for something on the menu and add a comment after, you know something complimentary or something funny maybe.
(Something funny to me and something funny to my wife are not the same thing, My son also dreads it when we pull into a drive thru, He can hardly wait to get his driving permit so he can order stuff).
I have to admit I did on occasion put on the London accent a little for fun and sometimes use a phrase that confuses people. "Don't spare the horses" was and is, a favourite of mine.(This is originally a reference to horses pulling a carriage as in don't worry about the horses pain when your whipping them to go faster, also horsepower and use all the power you have to gain speed) Meaning "I'm in a hurry, could you please rush my order through" I always get the response: "Pull round please sir"
I do intend to "over describe" at drive through which also drives the wife and kid up the walll.
Instead of "Add bacon" I say "Would you please throw on some bacon on that sausage biscuit" adding sarcastically "Not too much, I don't want to actually taste it" Always, always gets a deathly silence as they wonder how to be nice and not insult me back, and bless them all, they come through with flying colours every time. Thank you McDonald's, you done good.
OK, I admit, I was in dark and deep Ohio, probably 1 mile from civilisation, But I was speaking English, London English admittedly, but English never the less.
I had had trouble with the word "scales" before, and working for a company that repaired, installed, built and serviced scales, it was a problem. After approximately a week of trouble with it I discovered its best to preface the word with another word. IE "Truck Scale" or "Counting Scale" with quite a bit of success.
Then of course I would forget and get the response above. (Although the "What tree" response was unique. Normally it would be a "Huh?" or a lot of "Where Y'all from?") It took some "splaining" to the girl behind the counter, but she was young and and fascinated by my accent.
My other adventures into American Language problems come from "Drive Thru" restaurants. McDonald's works well on most occasions, but I run into "Please pull round" when I ask for something on the menu and add a comment after, you know something complimentary or something funny maybe.
(Something funny to me and something funny to my wife are not the same thing, My son also dreads it when we pull into a drive thru, He can hardly wait to get his driving permit so he can order stuff).
I have to admit I did on occasion put on the London accent a little for fun and sometimes use a phrase that confuses people. "Don't spare the horses" was and is, a favourite of mine.(This is originally a reference to horses pulling a carriage as in don't worry about the horses pain when your whipping them to go faster, also horsepower and use all the power you have to gain speed) Meaning "I'm in a hurry, could you please rush my order through" I always get the response: "Pull round please sir"
I do intend to "over describe" at drive through which also drives the wife and kid up the walll.
Instead of "Add bacon" I say "Would you please throw on some bacon on that sausage biscuit" adding sarcastically "Not too much, I don't want to actually taste it" Always, always gets a deathly silence as they wonder how to be nice and not insult me back, and bless them all, they come through with flying colours every time. Thank you McDonald's, you done good.
