Foo - I don't you understood me...

As some of you have noticed, we live in Costa Rica, no, it isn't an island. Anyway, everyone speaks Spanish and so do we - with varying degrees of success.

We raise trees, so we are very knowledgable regarding tropical woods. I can recognize many types from the wood itself.

We were in a restaraunt last week and saw some very interesting tables, as usual, we got interested in what kind of wood it was. We thought it might it might be Cenizero, a very pretty wood and looks a lot like Guanacaste. So, my wife pointed at the table and said "Cenizero?" at which point the waiter ran over and got a ashtray. Ashtray = cenicero, the wood, cenizero. The z and the c are pronounced the same here. We all had a good laugh after we sorted it all out.

After the waiter left, I turned to my wife and said, "It is a good thing that we didn't think it was Gallinazo." I could imagine the panic that would cause if we point at the table and said "Chicken droppings?"

:lol:
the old language barrier..
Like I dont experience this everyday:) it just adds a little spice to life

Is that because the rest of the USA doesn't speak like you all do up in NH? ;)

Our son-in-law (who we love) is from NH and we are still trying to understand him.

Is that because the rest of the USA doesn't speak like you all do up in NH? ;)

Our son-in-law (who we love) is from NH and we are still trying to understand him.
She's french canadian. Who also happens to be a naughty maid every once in awhile.

For real, or in your dreams Pheard?

BDG - what is your native language? If it isn't English, you write VERY well. My native language is confused. (I am married to an editor - this will give you inferiority complex like nothing else when it comes to language.)

For real, or in your dreams Pheard?

BDG - what is your native language? If it isn't English, you write VERY well. My native language is confused. (I am married to an editor - this will give you inferiority complex like nothing else when it comes to language.)
Klingon. :)

:lol:

Klingon. :)
:lol: you called???

For real, or in your dreams Pheard?

BDG - what is your native language? If it isn't English, you write VERY well. My native language is confused. (I am married to an editor - this will give you inferiority complex like nothing else when it comes to language.)
french with the french maid outfit and all,not in his dreams.
His dreams are more...hum.. spiced up with whips and chains, ya know....youth these days..

Try being british, some off the damm english words have different meanings :lol:

Ask a gal in NC for a shag, you get a dance
Ask a gal in UK for a shag, you either get lucky or a slap in the face

My native language is Engrish.....really.

Years ago, when I studied in Belgium, I was once on a train headed from Brussels to Berlin to visit a friend. I used to be a smoker :rolleyes: and was sitting in a smoking compartment with two young women about my age. One of them said something to me. I didn't understand her. She said it again. I still couldn't understand. She motioned at my lighter. I passed it to her. Then she said, "Merci." I started laughing. She had been speaking Klingon. :lol:

Turns out they were French Canadian, and we all had a laugh because they had figured I was German and didn't understand French. We had a good conversation after that, and had quite a bit in common.

Also, one of the guys I was living with was from Montréal, and he tried hard to get me to sound French Canadian, but half the time we spoke franglais together.

Klingon. A good and interesting kind of French. :D

Try being british, some off the damm english words have different meanings :lol:

Ask a gal in NC for a shag, you get a dance
Ask a gal in UK for a shag, you either get lucky or a slap in the face
Sometimes if you're a good shagger, you still get lucky. Even in NC. :lol:

Sometimes if you're a good shagger, you still get lucky. Even in NC. :lol:

I dare not go there on a public forum :D

it is funny, I dont hear my accent anymore but everyone else does.
Go in a store and I said "Im just looking"
clerk answered, sorry, "we dont have Steven King"

Then go get pissed, fsm.








(In the British English sense of the word. :lol:)

it is funny, I dont hear my accent anymore but everyone else does.
Go in a store and I said "Im just looking"
clerk answered, sorry, "we dont have Steven King"
:roflmao:

I tried hard to lose my accent in Belgium. Was successful to a degree. The Walloons thought I was Flemish, the Flemish thought I was German, the Germans thought I was French. :lol:

Also had an interesting moment in the university library as I tried to check out books, and realized I'd left my student ID in my other jacket. The library was going to close in about 20 minutes. I asked the circulation person to please hold those books. She said she couldn't do that, that they'd have to go back to the stacks. I BEGGED her very nicely. She didn't look too happy, but grunted in the affirmative.

I ran like h3ll, got my ID from my apartment, and ran all the way back. Out of breath, I handed her the card, she looked at it, and said, "Mais, vous êtes américaine! Je croyais que vous soyez néerlandaise!" ("But, you're American! I thought you were Dutch!") She suddenly became very, very nice, all smiles. I did a discrete <sniff> test to see what might have made her think that. :lol:

At least no one thought I was American, though one shopowner suspected I might be British. :eek:

:lol: you called???

You left your cloaking device off again. :)

it is funny, I dont hear my accent anymore but everyone else does.
Go in a store and I said "Im just looking"
clerk answered, sorry, "we dont have Steven King"
I get turned on when I imagine your french accent.

Talk dirty to me baybee!!

I get turned on when I imagine your french accent.

Talk dirty to me baybee!!
"Sale, sale, sale, sale."

On a similar note, I really could not speak Tagalog and the filipinos had fun with that. They laughed at me constantly while trying to teach me. Putting emphasis on a certain syllable in a word changes the meaning. Maybe next time I will speak to them in German for added confusion.

My most interestng English encounter was at mealtime. The conversation went:

You want bif?
What?
You want bif?
What is bif?
You want powrk or you want bif?
Oh, I'll take the beef.

I was in the grocery store one day and this lady was looking all around. She turned to me and said, "Do you see the miyahniss?" I said "WHAT??" She looks at me, kinda embarrassed: "MIYAHNISS!" I stood there feeling lost. "I dont think there is such a thing here" She gave me a dirty look and walked further down the aisle, looking. She bent over, picked something off of the bottom shelf and marched over to me, like she wanted to fight or something. She held up this jar, thrust it in my face and said (as she was shaking it at me) "MI YAHHN ISS!!! She was holding a jar of Best Foods Mayonnaise.

I just smiled and asked her, "Well why didn't you say so?"

Then go get pissed, fsm.








(In the British English sense of the word. :lol:)

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

And so it looks like ya did! :lol:

I get turned on when I imagine your french accent.

Talk dirty to me baybee!!
you get turned on even when I talk about my stinky feet!:lol:

you get turned on even when I talk about my stinky feet!:lol:
Wait....

Yeah your right.

:lol:

:lol:
the old language barrier..
Like I dont experience this everyday:) it just adds a little spice to life

Do you actually have an accent?...

I was in the grocery store one day and this lady was looking all around. She turned to me and said, "Do you see the miyahniss?" I said "WHAT??" She looks at me, kinda embarrassed: "MIYAHNISS!" I stood there feeling lost. "I dont think there is such a thing here" She gave me a dirty look and walked further down the aisle, looking. She bent over, picked something off of the bottom shelf and marched over to me, like she wanted to fight or something. She held up this jar, thrust it in my face and said (as she was shaking it at me) "MI YAHHN ISS!!! She was holding a jar of Best Foods Mayonnaise.

I just smiled and asked her, "Well why didn't you say so?"

I work with some support staff for a certain company that works out of Maryland (don't know where that is) but seriously, I have no idea what they say sometimes. There are some seriously harsh accents that just dont compute.

Once a long time ago I was at a gas station with my dad and some ghetto lady asked me how to get to "myazz". I had no idea what she was talking about. My dad on the other hand worked in Detroit all his life and knew exactly what she meant. She needed to get to Meyers.

Shoulda turned around.

How about another one? When speaking Spanish, it is very easy to get lasy and pronounce the d inside a word like you would at the beginning. The "d" at the beginning is pretty much like in English, but at the end of the word, well, it sort of like a cross between a soft d and a th. An r in the middle of a word is more like a d sound.

This of course drives English speakers nuts trying to get it right, and many don't even try that hard. The result is, that when someone is talking about everything, just are just full of bull. ;)

Todo = all
Toro = bull

So, when a Spanish speaking person says you are full of bull, he might not mean what you think he means...

We have a pretty good idea what BDG sounds like now - do we want to know what Pheard sounds like?!

Do you actually have an accent?...
I do :)

So do I, when I speak Spanish... a vile Gringo accent I am sure. Actually, since some of the people I know are Nicaraguan , I am developing a Nicaraguan accent!

How'd you get here... The forums are all whacked on my end.

Smuggled through Cuba?

Crikey... Don't forget the cigars!

I cant find the linky to get back on gabby.
can anyone send it to me?

www.gabbly.com/bikeforums.net

Nah, we import cuban cigars - no need to go through Cuba for that!

:(

Oh boy, you don't want to get started learning what is restricted up there and is not down here. As a Tico friend once said to me "Don't take this wrong, but I don't think the USA is a free country..."

www.gabbly.com/bikeforums.net
thanks, going back in

:lol:

Stamp collectors can't ever legaly own used Cuban stamps

thanks, going back in
Good, I'm so ronery!

I remember once trying to tell some of my roommates in Belgium about the animals in the woods around my parents' home.

I wanted to tell them that I had once seen a skunk out there, as well as other animals. But I didn't know the word for skunk, so, in typical fashion of someone not totally fluent in a particular language, I decided to use a word for a similar animal, and then based on that animal's appearance, describe the skunk. The word I knew was "putois," which is a polecat, or ferret since I had a French-speaking friend with a ferret.

So I was trying to describe the skunk by saying it looks like a polecat, but it's bigger and has a stripe on its back. My Belgian friends looked surprised, almost shocked, and didn't understand. I continued by saying that it's a wild animal that lives in the woods, but not frequently seen. And if caught by surprise or threatened, it smells really bad. Again, they looked quite confused until one of them started laughing.

I had been using the word "putain" instead of "putois." "Putain" is a wh0re. :lol: