OT: Learning new words (was RE: "Single instance" machines)

From: Andrew Davie <adavie_at_mad.scientist.com>
Date: Wed Dec 16 14:20:58 1998

> Learning new words is good. Due to the way the bunk beds in the
> dormitory at Georgia Tech were arranged, I and my roommate from
> Berlin learned all sorts of new words from each other that I still
> find useful when dropping a tool on my foot.

About 10 years ago our company hired a non-English-speaking artist from
Germany. Apart from being constantly high, our art department also had a
(mean?) humorous streak. They taught him a very interesting form of
English - and colourful. Instead of saying "wow, excellent!", they
convinced him that the correct thing to say was "most spannerlike!", and
that a correct form of greeting was "Hello Sailor!". There were many more
interesting variations, and his English was eventually, suffice it to say,
unusual :) Of course, he could swear like a trooper.
A
Received on Wed Dec 16 1998 - 14:20:58 GMT