Thursday, October 09, 2008

English? Ingles? Inglese?

English is my second language that I used more than my first language. However, my english is a loose form of communication with acquired accents from various places, and adapted terminologies whose origins I can not point out. Faetryn was once asked about my accent, and she said, "Yeah, she's got a funky one."

conversations with a bunch of north americans
C: This is really comfy. It's raining outside and I'm talking under my doona.
S: Huh?
VAC: Doona? *Big laughter* What the hell is a doona?
C: Doona. You know...
S: What's that?
C: Huh? *confused* Isn't that English? Doona, ehmm quilt cover,
VAC: Oh, you mean comforter! Right!
S: Where the hell do you get doona from?
C: I dunno, it's always been doona..

conversations with an aussie living in london in stockholm
B: I know I say tea, funny... I was speaking to my mum the other day. She laughed.
C: Yes, and did she ever get it confused with tea, as in tea the drink, and tea, for dinner?
B: Absolutely! Almost all the time. I get it with my colleagues with pants.
C: Pants?
B: Yes, the English don't use the word pants unless they mean underwear. They use trousers.
C: Ah, a pair of trousers *spoken with English accent*

conversation with an english girl who grew up in australia in geneva
F: Did you spend some time in Australia?
C: A little bit. Why? *I have only met this person for a little over 2 hours*
F: Well, you said no worries before and I thought, gosh! I haven't heard that for a really long time.
C: Haha.. It just comes out.
F: Yeah, I know what you mean. When I first came, I said "Hello, how are you?" all the time when I greet people and the Europeans looked at me funny. They were not sure how to respond.
C: They're not sure how to respond to that?
F: Yeah, they thought that it's weird that this person actually wants to know about their well being.
C: Oh! I know most times, I do want to know. But more often than not, it just comes out as a package...
F: I KNOW!!

conversation with an american in singapore
J: Why is it when you go to foreign language sites, the sign for English language is always the British flag?
C: Errr... because that's where English comes from? They're Eng-lish...
J: Yeah, but we speak English, too! So are the Canadians, why can't it be a different flag?
C: .... *Speechless. Puzzled. I just gave him a shrug.

1 comment:

Faetryn said...

Why is tea = dinner, for Aussies? The English don't do that do they?
Tea = the drink, or the drink + the food you eat around tea-time, which is usually 4ish.
Dinner = the meal you eat after tea, like around 7.
Funny. Funnier than doona.