Comments on: tales from the goldfish bowl

By: vitriolica

vitriolica — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 11:14:45 +0000

geetanjali, i commend you for not telling the moron she was an idiot nor smacking her.

once when I was in the states I was talking to a fifteen year old boy who was the son of a college professor. He asked where I lived… “London” I said… “Oh, right… that’s in Paris, huh?”
??????????????????????????????????????????????????

By: Geetanjali

Geetanjali — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 04:45:57 +0000

The comment about the encounter with the American was left by me !:oops: I forgot to fill in the deets!:oops:

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 04:41:12 +0000

Stumbled onto your blog through some other blogs – this is great stuff! :smile:
I had a similar experience in a cafe on the Rue de Rivoli, when I was in Paris last year..this is how the exchange went:-
Bimbo (B) : I wanna see the Danish palace….
Geetanjali (G) : *smile*
B : Do you know where it is?
G : I am not from Paris..what does your guide book say?
B : Is it in Paris or in Denmark?
G : I wouldn’t know..I’m not from France or Denmark!!!
B : Well I wanna see it…
G : Why don’t you look up a guide book and see what it says? Or ask one of the guys in the cafe?
B : What city in the US did you say you are from by the way?
G : I didn’t say I am from the US…
B: But you speak good english…
G : There are other countries in the world apart from the US where people speak excellent english…
B : So where in UK are you from?
G : Guess again…
B : Then it must be Australia…thats the only other country…
G : Nopes wrong again…I’m from India…
B : But isn’t that a small village in Asia?
G : (Mentally) I wonder what the sentence for murder is???? *fake smile* No it isnt..It’s a big country with a lot of very intelligent people who speak better english than most Americans…excuse me I need to use the loo….

ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

By: M.J.

M.J. — Fri, 26 Nov 2004 17:39:21 +0000

You never cease to entertain me. Please be certain that all Americans, though most perhaps, are not this way.

By: Claypot

Claypot — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 15:35:05 +0000

Suziboo – priceless!:lol:

By: Suziboo

Suziboo — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 14:06:32 +0000

Were you surprised Claypot? I was once asked, in all seriousness, whether we had television in Scotland. REALLY REALLY wanted to tell them about John Logie Baird, but would have been wasting my breath.

By: Claypot

Claypot — Thu, 25 Nov 2004 06:42:30 +0000

Sorry to hijack, but Heath’s comment made me laugh out loud. I worked in the US for about six months in a restaurant. On my first day of work all the other staff gathered round me in amazement. Finally one of them tentatively said ‘Do y’all speak English in Ireland?’

By: heath

heath — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 20:23:48 +0000

When I worked with American tour groups in Paris, I had the following comments (I’m BRITISH btw)

“You speak such good English. Where did you learn to speak like that?!”

“Gee, you can write English as well as speak it!”

And no, I do not have a pointy head or webbed toes, so I really fail to understand. Unless of course the people in question were complete imbeciles …

By: petite

petite — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 15:05:40 +0000

Nigel

For Europe I think as a rule pay with your card as much as possible and draw cash out from the wall only in largish amounts (as there are minimum charges).

Or take, say, amex euro travellers and change them at amex for no extra charge.

That was another thing. Thomas Cook was located about 500m from Amex. But when people came asking where it was, I was supposed to pretend I had no idea.

By: vitriolica

vitriolica — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:56:02 +0000

it’s quite scary really, such ********an tourists, such ignorance. lovely description. I feel quite CLAUSTROPHOBIC now, imagining your bullet proof case… :shock: