I don't know if it's me or if people just don't pay fucking attention to the words coming out of my mouth. This is the type of conversation that I've been having pretty much non-stop for the past two weeks.
me: Is Jose here?
guy: No, he works in a different office.
me: The board outside his office said he was here.
guy: He doesn't work here.
me: I know he doesn't work here. I went to his office and he left a note that said he was here.
guy: I think he works in 215, you'll have to go there.
me: I know he doesn't work here. I know where he works. I went to his office and he left a note that said he was here.
guy to guy #2: Is Jose here?
guy #2: No he works in another office.
me: I know he doesn't work here, his sign said he was over here.
guy #2: He works in the next building over.
me: I know where he works. I just went to his office. He has a board outside his office. On that board he left a note. On the note it said that he was coming over here. Did he come over here?
guy #2: Oh, I don't know. (to guy #3) Was Jose over here?
guy #3: He doesn't work here.
me: *walk off swearing*
Chong: "Who is it?"
Cheech: "Its Dave man! Will you open up, I got the stuff with me!"
Chong: "Who?"
Cheech: "Dave man, open up!"
Chong: "Dave?"
Cheech: "Yeah Dave, come on man open up I think the cops saw me!"
Chong: "Dave's not here!"
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'
from Through the Looking Glass
Gobbla,
A very interesting situation.... but I think the issue may be more of you and the listeners not agreeing on the meaning of your questions (I know you are using a standardized meaning, but they are not. If you want to be "right", well you are and you can keeping repeating the question and not get anywhere or you can rephrase the question and "negotiate" the meaning of the question). This occurs all time in natural discourse. At all levels of conversation (discourse), with native speaker, non-native speakers, children, professionals, etc).
Basically they took your question to mean- Does Jose work here, and repeating the same question with the follow up information was not enough for them to understand that you were trying to negotiate the meaning of the question (they were unwilling to "negotiate" because they did not realize that there was a lack of agreement on on what the question meant.)
Does this mean they "cannot speak/understand English"? Perhaps, but I think it is possible that many people have come to the office and said "Is xxx here? meaning "does xxx work here"
Is xxx here.
No, he isn't.
when will he be back?
be back?
yes, when will he come back here?
I don't know.
don't know? Why don't you know?
he doesn't work here, he works in that building.
well why didn't you say so in the first place!!!??!!
======
This may be a bit of stretch but actually you see it happen quite a lot. It is a major field of study in applied linguistics (pragmatics).
Cheers
Peter
__________________
Peter
After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend…
when I was a teenager, I would of course get phone calls at home. Many times when my Dad was in a mood (he had a dry wit) the conversation would go like this:
Dad: Hello.
friend: Is Lisa there?
Dad: Yes.
... long pause ... very long pause ...
(finally) friend: May I speak to her?
Dad: Sure, I'll get her for you.
Pete, I can buy the initial confusion. Just like you say, there's thousands of new people coming through every year and no one knows anything about anything. It just boggles my mind that I have painful conversation with three people sitting 2' away from each other. I understand what you mean by not saying the same thing 4 times and expecting a magical right answer on the 5th.
It reminds me of another one. We're going through a guard shack. We're looking for a particular gate and have no idea where it is. We pull up to the gate, there's one guard working and 5 standing around playing circle jerk. We ask the working guard:
me: "Do you know where X gate is?"
guy: "Nope, have a good day."
Me: "Do you think one of those guys might know?"
guy: "Probably not, they're pretty new."
me: "Could we ask them on the wild chance that they might know?"
guy: "Sure"
me to one of the guys: "Do you know where X gate is?"
guy #2: "Nope sorry"
me: (looking around at the glassy eyes of the rest) "Do any of you standing out here that can hear my voice know where this gate is?"
guy #4: "It's over there *points*"
My best one....which is a little older. I pull up to the gate:
guy: "The car in front of you said your headlight was out"
me: "Is it?"
guy: "No"
me: "Enjoy your morning"
Pete, I can buy the initial confusion. Just like you say, there's thousands of new people coming through every year and no one knows anything about anything. It just boggles my mind that I have painful conversation with three people sitting 2' away from each other. I understand what you mean by not saying the same thing 4 times and expecting a magical right answer on the 5th.
I am just giving the applied linguist spin.... It could just be that they were being dicks, (more likely then they could not understand English) or that they were not listening when you were talking...
I think that one issue with a lot of interactions is that they are not personal. The participants do not make a personal connection before the language exchange has so have no vested interested in a successful outcome. (Sales people will say the same thing in different jargon). So as time consuming as it may be, perhaps you need to befriend everyone before you get help (though sometimes that is not such a bad thing).
Since you shared two fun stories, let me retaliate (oops I meant reciprocate).
1) Before the big airline crunch (and before they started looking at your travel frequency to determine bumps), I used to get a lot of "bumps" from economy to business. My strategy was to hang out near the check-in counter and wait for an asshole (and I was never disappointed ) and then check in and start with eye contact and "god what an asshole face , and say wow you sure have a tough job.... chit a chat and i suddenly found myself in Business class or at least bulkhead seats. In today market, it just doesn''t happen (though I have enough miles for automatic domestic upgrades now). Now I can usually score an extra meal (if I am hungry ) a couple of attendants have brought me means from business class- for what - just being personal. (it is amazing how rude and impersonal travelers are especially toward the flight attendants.
2) Old story but fitness related- when Vic Tann's (sp?) was doing a big promo, a friend of mine (older and conservative executive) was in for trial lesson, the vic tanny trainer (using the "personal" sell) said, so what do your friends call you?
and my friend said.
Denis, but you can call me Mr. Roberts.
I have always liked that response.
Cheers
Peter
__________________
Peter
After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend…
Last edited by diamondpete : 04-23-2009 at 08:11 AM.
I don't know if it's me or if people just don't pay fucking attention to the words coming out of my mouth. This is the type of conversation that I've been having pretty much non-stop for the past two weeks.
me: Is Jose here?
guy: No, he works in a different office.
me: The board outside his office said he was here.
guy: He doesn't work here.
me: I know he doesn't work here. I went to his office and he left a note that said he was here.
guy: I think he works in 215, you'll have to go there.
me: I know he doesn't work here. I know where he works. I went to his office and he left a note that said he was here.
guy to guy #2: Is Jose here?
guy #2: No he works in another office.
me: I know he doesn't work here, his sign said he was over here.
guy #2: He works in the next building over.
me: I know where he works. I just went to his office. He has a board outside his office. On that board he left a note. On the note it said that he was coming over here. Did he come over here?
guy #2: Oh, I don't know. (to guy #3) Was Jose over here?
guy #3: He doesn't work here.
me: *walk off swearing*
when I was a teenager, I would of course get phone calls at home. Many times when my Dad was in a mood (he had a dry wit) the conversation would go like this:
Dad: Hello.
friend: Is Lisa there?
Dad: Yes.
... long pause ... very long pause ...
(finally) friend: May I speak to her?
Dad: Sure, I'll get her for you.
Ohhh. Ohhh! I do that one to my kids.
Other family classics.
Kid: I'm hungry.
Dad: Nice to meet you hungry.
Kid: eye roll.
Kid: I got a hair cut.
Dad: Which one?
Kid: Eye roll.
I am getting old.
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Past performance is not indicative of future success.
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Kid: I'm hungry.
Dad: Nice to meet you hungry.
Kid: eye roll.
Kid: I got a hair cut.
Dad: Which one?
Kid: Eye roll.
I am getting old.
I can't wait for my sons to be old enough so I can do stuff like this.
__________________
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."
- Christopher Reeve
I can't wait for my sons to be old enough so I can do stuff like this.
There are all sorts of ways to torture your children and not go to jail. Do it before 5 though cuz after five you run the risk of them having a concious memory of it.
At one point I kicked around the idea of teaching them the wrong words for things. My wife "talked" me out of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karozel
At my house:
Kid: I'm thirsty.
Dad: Hi Thirsty (Thursday)
I'm Friday, how 'bout Saturday, we go get a Sunday (sundae).
Kid: groan.....
Nothing better than refreshing the material.
__________________
Past performance is not indicative of future success.
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
At one point I kicked around the idea of teaching them the wrong words for things. My wife "talked" me out of it.
I may have to try that one out. I currently have my son say "ta-da" when ever we open his diaper to change him. I'm hoping my mom or someone else watching him has to change his diaper soon. I think it will be hilarious.
__________________
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."
- Christopher Reeve
At one point I kicked around the idea of teaching them the wrong words for things. My wife "talked" me out of it.
Reminds me of something I read about the baby in "Meet the Fockers" - they taught him to say "shit" by teaching him that it was the word for french fries - so they'd hold up a fry and he'd ask for it by saying "shit"... can you imagine him when he goes to McD's to order?
when I was a teenager, I would of course get phone calls at home. Many times when my Dad was in a mood (he had a dry wit) the conversation would go like this:
Dad: Hello.
friend: Is Lisa there?
Dad: Yes.
... long pause ... very long pause ...
(finally) friend: May I speak to her?
Dad: Sure, I'll get her for you.
One of my friend's dads used to do that to me!
__________________
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I could see an order of a quarter-pounder and a large shit creating all sorts of hilarity.
No, you would get exactly what you ordered a Big Mac and some shit. But to reduce confusion you should just say, " Two kinds of shit and a super-sized bucket of piss", to make sure you get your drink with your "food" order.
peter
__________________
Peter
After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend…
I may have to try that one out. I currently have my son say "ta-da" when ever we open his diaper to change him. I'm hoping my mom or someone else watching him has to change his diaper soon. I think it will be hilarious.
*snort*
that's great. I'm so stealing that when I have kids.
There are all sorts of ways to torture your children and not go to jail. Do it before 5 though cuz after five you run the risk of them having a concious memory of it.
My kids (not really kids) are 18 and 17. I still do this shit to them.
__________________
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."
My Dad always used to ask us if we wanted ice-cream.
When we said yes, he would say, "You better go to the store and buy some then!"
My dad is a jerk who thinks he is funny. Ok as an adult I think he is funny too, but as a fat child I didn't
__________________ 2009: No races, No times. Slow year. So, now you're 96 cals short. You're now in starvation mode. Doomed. - LostDog
Blog entry: November 1, 2009, Pancakes LiveSTRONG daily plate log
English - Do you speak it?
) and then check in and start with eye contact and "god what an asshole face , and say wow you sure have a tough job.... chit a chat and i suddenly found myself in Business class or at least bulkhead seats. In today market, it just doesn''t happen (though I have enough miles for automatic domestic upgrades now). Now I can usually score an extra meal (if I am hungry ) a couple of attendants have brought me means from business class- for what - just being personal. (it is amazing how rude and impersonal travelers are especially toward the flight attendants.
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