Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Fun With Languages

One of the oddest drivers I ever had was a fella one evening who played a little game with me, without telling me up front. Good thing I was in a good mood LOL.

I got in the cab, gave my address (wisconsin avenue) and we set off. He started speaking a foreign language. I shrugged my shoulders and said "I don't understand" and he said"Wisconsin avenue" and went back to driving. We went for a while, then he started speaking again. I repeated that I didn't understand. He repeated one word a couple of times, pointing to himself, so I figured it was his name, so I said mine. He nodded, then said "Wisconsin Avenue" again and kept driving. After a bit, he started speaking his language again. I just smiled and let him talk. Once and a while he'd say "Wisconsin Avenue" then keep talking.

Finally, we were nearing my place and were at a stop light. He said in clear English, "you're a good sport, one man asked to get out of the cab when I played this game." He said he does it once and a while when he's bored (I'd imagine it could get pretty boring sometimes). But he makes sure to always repeat the final street address so folks know he knows where he's going and don't panic.

Interesting ride.

2 Comments:

At 11:13 AM, Blogger HomeImprovementNinja said...

I had a guy start talking to me in his native language once too. I kept saying "i don't understand, man". FInally he turns around and I see the handsfree earbud in his ear and he says "sorry, i'm on the phone to my wife." uhhhhh, okay.

 
At 1:25 PM, Blogger Joann said...

I would try this on my next customer if I spoke another language.

 

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