2/28/08

Parlez vous Anglais?!

At noon today I popped into the next small town library, never been in before and not sure whether to return again!

The lady behind the desk literally did not understand a word I said to her, I had to repeat everything twice. You'd have thought I was talking in French judging by the expression on her face...LOL.

I would ask a question and she'd just completely misunderstand me! And believe me these were not complicated questions:

"What do I need to do to join the library"? Blank face
"Do I have to live in this county"? Blank face
"Do you have books on CD"? Blanker face
"Is there a fee"? Blank....so I revised to "Is it FREE"?!!
"Are you from Mars" ......just kidding, but I was sorely tempted!

Finally I did manage to get the answers I needed and as I turned to leave she asked me where I was from....lol! I was so so tempted to say where I live now, just up the road, but I behaved as she seemed nice and said England, but I live here.

Her response "OH I DO LOVE THE ENGLISH ACCENT"!!!!!!!!

I was so tempted to respond with...."well you bloody well can't understand it though huh"!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Sarah...I can so relate! When they ask me where I'm from here in Ohio I am so very tempted to say "From Mars, and from where do you hale?"

I have a country hick accent that borders on Southern. I never notice it myself till I look up to see someone grinning like a fool the whole time I'm speaking...

Maybe she had been asleep and just woke up...who knows...they always follow up with a love of your accent!

I hope you found some good books or DVD's...I went to our library today and got the BBC series Rosemary and Thyme...I saw it somewhere I'm not remembering where now and thought it sounded interesting as I love mysteries and gardens and it seems like that is what this is.

Hope you have a warm and happy evening!

Julie said...

Thanks for the comment! I was highly amused with the pictures last night. Sorry the librarian doesn't understand proper English, do you think that says something about that library? Hmm....

Its Just Me - Daring to Dream said...

Lucky for you its just your accent that's different. Most people wont treat you different until they hear you speak - which I am sure is frustrating.

Imagine being of a different skin color. I get blank stares all the time and my English pronounciation is stellar!

Being different in the midwest is really rare. It will take time, glad you are here for the long haul. Maybe they will all warm up to you over time.

Anonymous said...

psst....

I have a little message for you in tonight's post...

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comments ladies, I have to say this is a rare occurence these days that someone doesn't understand me at all! Because I am a 'rarity and have been here over 2 yrs many people know me or know of me and they are all really friendly. I do still get the occassional 'where the heck are you from' though...lol!

Mary (Bookfan) said...

LOL, thanks for sharing!

Keeping It Real said...

I would be bloody annoyed by that, too. I wonder if my friend at Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (on blogger) has the same experience. She's an American living in London. You should check her out.

Thanks for popping over to my blog. Maybe I'll prepar a spot of tea for your next visit (LOL).

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane said...

Too funny! Poor Sarah, us Southerners and Midwesterners are unaccustomed to foreign accents. Heck, we can barely handle our own :)

Interesting that you got a card for the next county library over from you. Here, we can only get it free for the county of residence. You not only have to show proof of residence, but you have to have a local contact as a reference. I thought that was so odd when I moved here and went to get a library card. Good thing I had a friend who I could vouch for me :)

Happy Reading!

Unknown said...

Stacy - this library is my county, so it's free. But we do belong to a much bigger one in the next county and had to pay to join that, plus show id.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure why, but people in the southern states (OK/TX/LA/MS) seem to have a really hard time with the British accents.

I'm from the west coast (Cal/Ariz), and my husband is from Texas. We have mutual friends in Manchester - but when they call us on the phone, I have to be online to translate because my husband can only understand about half of the conversation.

Which is very strange to me, because the "Southern" accent is supposed to be a derivative of the accent of the droves of Scot/Irish folks who emmigrated from VA to the southern states starting around the late 1700's. So you'd think the southerners would have an easier time understanding a Brit accent... but it isn't so...

Val

Stella Jones said...

Hi Sarah, I too have had some funny moments with the accent. One Saturday morning, whilst shopping in the supermarket, the young lad behind the till asked me where I was from. I told him London (cos no-one over there would have heard of Luton, would they! There is a London in Tennessee, but he didn't connect that. Instead, he looked me in the eye and said innocently, "Do they speak English there?" I wasn't quite sure what to make of that!!
Blessings, Star