Say What?
9 July 2007
I went to a July fourth do last Wednesday and took a chook, some Chards and a pav.
The food and booze spoke for itself. This was a good thing, because nobody had a clue what I was talking about when I cheerily referenced my contributions to the picnic lunch.
In other words, everyone could see that a chook is chicken, Chards is Chardonnay, and pav is Pavlova: a light and fluffy, popular Australian meringue dessert topped with whipped cream and fresh, tart fruits.
When I called customer service at Target recently, I was connected to a nice a young man in electronics. My query: talk me through Target’s MP3 players so I can determine which would be a good buy for me.
Off went the electronics associate, but because I couldn’t see the MP3 players he was telling me about, and because I’m not a whiz with widgets, it’s highly possible that these are the reasons I couldn’t understand a word he said.
The other reason: He’s from the ‘hood, so with an urban inflection as thick as my Australian accent, and with a vocabulary made up of colloquialism as weird as “chook and Chards and pav,” it’s no wonder I thought he was speaking another language.
In an attempt to demonstrate the difficulty I was having comprehending him, I reeled off as fast as I could “chook, Chards, pav, chook Chards, pav.”
Then I asked if he’d understood what I’d said.
“Say what?” came his response.
I gathered he hadn’t understood.
I continued with, “I have a difficult-to-grasp accent as do you. I also use weird colloquialisms like you. But if we can’t understand each other, we’re never going to get anywhere on this call. So I promise to speak clearly, sans slang, if you promise to do the same for me.”
He agreed.
I won’t bore you to death apropos what I learned about Target’s MP3 players.
But that pav I made for July fourth, let me fill you in: I decided to top it with sliced strawberries and whole blueberries. Against the backdrop of the white whipped cream and the meringue, the pav was red, white, and blue!
My Australian dessert reminded me of the chat with the electronics associate - no matter, culture, color or language, differences are easily overcome by adapting what you know to fit the environment.
