Transpondial misunderstandings

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Or indeed total lack of understanding.Many years ago, when I first travelled to Merkia, I had a friend from CA post me a Beach Boys box-set to my hotel in Las Vegas.After I had arrived and settled in, I went to the chap on reception and asked him if I had recieved a parcel in the post. He did not understand. I could not think of another way of asking what I wanted to know.After various attempts to portray my meaning, and becomeing more than a little exasperated, I eventually found a box about the size of my expected parcel and said something like, "A box about this size with my name and the address of this hotel should have been brought here this morning, have you got it?" to which the reply was, "Oh, yes, we had a package in the mail for you"At which point I became even more frustrated, that for the wont of 2 similar-but-not-quite words I wasted a good 20 mins.Why is it that I was misunderstood? Why is it that I understand parcel=package and post=mail, but the hotel receptionist did not?This sort of thing has happened to me lots of times, and I cannot understand why.The last time I was in New York on my own I ended up asking a porter where the baggage check was; not a phrase I had ever used before, and not one I have used since, but I had had enough of being misunderstood!Is it just me, or is it you too? Do these misunderstandings travel both ways? I seem to know more Merkian terms than those I have encountered understand my Ukian terms?Cheers,kt.-- .sig is in the post

Usenet · Accepted Answer

In article , "X says...
[nq:1]After various attempts to portray my meaning, and becomeing more than a little exasperated, I eventually found a box about ... it that I was misunderstood? Why is it that I understand parcel=package and post=mail, but the hotel receptionist did not?[/nq]
The hotel receptionist should find another job...he or she obviously didn't understand enough English to be allowed to deal directly with customers...the word "parcel" should be instantly recognizable to any native English-speaker or either Pondiality..r

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Why is it that I was misunderstood? Why is it that I understand parcel=package and post=mail, but the hotel receptionist did not? This sort of thing has happened to me lots of times, and I cannot understand why.[/nq]
I'd like an opinion on a surprise that happened to me in the other direction...

some text to a Rightpondian in which I mentioned "overhauling the gearbox and clutch" - and I was very proud of myself for having used the term "gearbox" instead of "transmission" - being culturally sensitive and all that.

a little article in which he mentions en passant that I live in Merika. (Unusual and worthy of pointing out in the context of this particular newsletter) He then goes on the reproduce what I sent him but accompanied by the flag "sic" thus:

... overhauling (sic) the gearbox and clutch ...

I could have sworn that "overhaul" in the sense of "refurbish" was also Rightpondian usage - or did I get that wrong? Is there another term?

(And yes - I an aware that "overhauling" can also connote "overtaking" in Rightpondian usage, but surely also "refurbish"?)

Jitze

Usenet · Answer

R H Draney (Email Removed) writes:
[nq:1]In article , "X says...[/nq]
[nq:2]Why is it that I was misunderstood? Why is it that I understand parcel=package and post=mail, but the hotel receptionist did not?[/nq]
[nq:1]The hotel receptionist should find another job...he or she obviously didn't understand enough English to be allowed to deal directly with customers...the word "parcel" should be instantly recognizable to any native English-speaker or either Pondiality..r[/nq]
I suspect that it was the combination of an unexpected word combined with an unfamiliar accent. He probably would have recognized "parcel", spoken by an American, but if X is non-rhotic, it might have sounded more like "passel" or something completely unrecognizable.

-- Evan Kirshenbaum +-- HP Laboratories |English is about as pure as a 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |cribhouse *****. We don't just Palo Alto, CA 94304 |borrow words; on occasion, English |has pursued other languages down (Email Removed) |alleyways to beat them unconscious (650)857-7572 |and rifle their pockets for new |vocabulary. http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ | --James D. Nicoll

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"X says...[/nq]
[nq:2]After various attempts to portray my meaning, and becomeing more ... understand parcel=package and post=mail, but the hotel receptionist did not?[/nq]
[nq:1]The hotel receptionist should find another job...he or she obviously didn't understand enough English to be allowed to deal directly with customers...the word "parcel" should be instantly recognizable to any native English-speaker or either Pondiality..r[/nq]
Yabbut, pronunciation may have had something to do with the lack of comprehension.

I have had problems deciphering many of the words used on TV shows that are in some of the BrE dialects. I knew the words, but didn't connect them with what I was hearing. -- Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ I speak English well -- I learn it from a book! -- Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]R H Draney (Email Removed) writes:[/nq]
[nq:2]In article , "X says... The hotel receptionist should ... be instantly recognizable to any native English-speaker or either Pondiality..r[/nq]
[nq:1]I suspect that it was the combination of an unexpected word combined with an unfamiliar accent. He probably would have recognized "parcel", spoken by an American, but if X is non-rhotic, it might have sounded more like "passel" or something completely unrecognizable.[/nq]
of "this youthful parcel of noble bachelors" and "a holy parcel of the fairest dames", but this sense is apparently obsolete except for the AmE survival of "passel".)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Is it just me, or is it you too? Do these misunderstandings travel both ways? I seem to know more Merkian terms than those I have encountered understand my Ukian terms? Cheers, kt.[/nq]
Why don't you just take holiday at home, old sport? And BTW us Joe's and Jack's are probably gonna have a hard time wif "X Kyle M" from the gitgo.

-- Good luck and good sailing. s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat http://kerrydeare.tripod.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Or indeed total lack of understanding. Many years ago, when I first travelled to Merkia, I had a friend from ... been to the UK, and you cannot claim that the UK is free of the mentally disabled in public employment.[/nq]
It sounds like you have a story to dine out on that has grown over the years to become an epic to dine out on. If it took you 20 minutes to come up with a substitute phrase for "parcel in the post", it was a duel of half-wits.

The longest period of time I can recall that it took to resolve a other-pondian communication problem was, perhaps, 2 minutes over "bathroom". That only seemed that long because of the urgency involved. It was probably 20 seconds.
-- Tony Cooper aka: (Email Removed) Provider of Jots, Tittles, and Oy!s

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1] Do these misunderstandings travel both ways? [/nq]
My American friend asked his English future-father-in-law if he could *** a cigarette off him, and the limey guy seemed offended.

On the other hand, once in my presence a very cultured-looking English lady informed the patrons of a pub in Gibraltar that it was ******* down rain outside.

\P. Schultz

Usenet · Answer

(...)
[nq:1]I have had problems deciphering many of the words used on TV shows that are in some of the BrE dialects. I knew the words, but didn't connect them with what I was hearing.[/nq]
Same problem here. Many of the British people I've heard talking (some of them Conlons who moved there from Ireland years ago) sound like they've got marbles in their mouths. But then, I could use that same description for a friend of mine from New Orleans.

Perhaps some effort on behalf of the speaker to enunciate clearly would help in these situations. And in the OP's case, it might smooth the way a bit to drop the Merkia/Merkian thing when speaking to an American (if indeed the OP uses the term when speaking to an American). If someone who is a native English speaker used the terms to my face, I might very well have a bit of (friendly) difficulty in understanding him (or her). For some reason, I find "Merkian" rude and more than a little bit snotty. Am I misreading the intention?

Maria Conlon

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Is it just me, or is it you too? Do these misunderstandings travel both ways?[/nq]
Of course not. British people are so much smarter and better educated than Americans (1), your implication throughout your diatribe, they have no trouble.
[nq:2]I seem to know more Merkian terms than those I have encountered understand my Ukian terms? Cheers, kt.[/nq]
[nq:1]Why don't you just take holiday at home, old sport?[/nq]
No can do. He requires something to whine about: the need to learn the practices of a country not familiar to him is an excellent place to start and to continue on with, for the differences in the cultures, including the language, are many, as any nincompoop knows.

1. One word you need to learn, by the way, is "American" rather than "Merkian", if you want to get along with Americans or want to effectively communicate with them, which you show no indication of trying to do. -- Charles Riggs

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Transpondial misunderstandings

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