Laughing at stupid foreigners.

[User169]

[QUOTE 3139501, member: 259"]Try learning to speak Dutch in the Netherlands. Everybody, from policemen to popstars, to beggars in the train station, speaks perfect English and launches into it as soon as they hear a hint of an English accent.[/QUOTE]

Well that's my excuse anyhow!

 

[yello]

("Merlu" being French for Hake).

or colin. Yes, colin. A fish called colin. Cool huh? Obviously not pronounced like in the blokes name, oh no. The pronunciation is more disturbing than that. Reminds one of colons.

Anyways, I think you'd more usually see it as colin on the menu in a restaurant, but don't quote me. I think merlu refers to the fish hake that swims in the water, a living breathing fish as a zoologist might call it. It becomes colin when the chef gets his hands on it, and serves it up on a plate. Kind of like 'pig' is the animal and 'pork' is the meat.

 

[Dayvo]

I was approached by a beggar in Oslo years ago and he asked, in Norwegian, if I could give him 5 kronor (50p). I said I was English and didn't speak Norwegian (trying to dissuade him, see) but he replied in very good English 'Have you 10 kronor I could have.

 

[ianrauk]

Hitching around Germany when I was a young lad, I was amazed to see so many signs for, what I thought must have been, a very large city (which I'd never heard of.

Miles of hours of driving and still the sign for 'Ausfahrt' kept on appearing.




Ooh, what glee! I just found this image on google:

A great album...

 

[ianrauk]

Most of my foreign customers, (apart from the Dutch that is) can pronounce Ian. So when one of them phones up, other people in the office delight in telling me there's a phone call for Yan.

 

[John the Monkey]

[QUOTE 3139501, member: 259"]Try learning to speak Dutch in the Netherlands. Everybody, from policemen to popstars, to beggars in the train station, speaks perfect English and launches into it as soon as they hear a hint of an English accent.[/QUOTE]

Same thing happened to us in Belgium, (staff speaking perfect English) trying to buy train tickets to Bruges/Brugge. It seems to be a bigger faux pas to speak in French (or use the French placenames) to a Fleming.

Another tangent, on our tiny tour of France & Belgium, Mrs M and I were trying to find Hondschoote (a small town just over the border in France).

I saw a couple heading towards us, and flagged them down - we were slightly worried about finding it, so I blurted out;

"Spreekt u Engels? Parlez Vous Francais? Nederlands?"

The chap regarded me calmly, and in Dutch accented, but perfect English, said "Pick any one, my friend."

 

[Ganymede]

Same thing happened to us in Belgium, (staff speaking perfect English) trying to buy train tickets to Bruges/Brugge. It seems to be a bigger faux pas to speak in French (or use the French placenames) to a Fleming.

Another tangent, on our tiny tour of France & Belgium, Mrs C and I were trying to find Hondschoote (a small town just over the border in France).

I saw a couple heading towards us, and flagged them down - we were slightly worried about finding it, so I blurted out;

"Spreekt u Engels? Parlez Vous Francais? Nederlands?"

The chap regarded me calmly, and in Dutch accented, but perfect English, said "Pick any one, my friend."

This is one of the reasons I like being fluent in French. The French are always surprised and delighted and give you presents if you speak good French. I'm not exaggerating - I remember taking stepdaughter to France on holiday (in about 1994) and she went round-eyed at the number of small business people (crafts or wine etc) who would suddenly offer me an extra little thing as I left. Merci beaucoup!

 

[swee'pea99]

Lost in Suffolk, asking blank-eyed locals the way to 'Happysburg'. Well how else would you pronounce Happisburgh? Haresbrer, that's how.

 

[Globalti]

Des Moines, Iowa.

Ah! Is that actually pronounced the French way? I've never known.

 

[Dayvo]

Read in the paper once about an old chap from Newcastle, who lived in Surrey, and was going to drive back to the north east to visit his family.

He got on the M25 and spent hours and hours driving around its perimeter without seeing any signs for Newcastle. He eventually saw a police car on the hard shoulder and pulled in and asked the copper for directions.

The copper laughed and said he was still in London, but the old chap thought the copper was joking, as the old boy had probably met the only Geordie copper in London.

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

Lost in Suffolk, asking blank-eyed locals the way to 'Happysburg'. Well how else would you pronounce Happisburgh? Haresbrer, that's how.

Happisburgh is in Norfolk. No wonder they looked a bit blank...

 

[Saluki]

There are loads in Norfolk - my favourite is Wymondham - pronounced Win-dom...

More like Win-dhum I reckon but what would I know.

Us NINs like our place names and the confusion on the faces of foreigners.

 

[Saluki]

Lost in Suffolk, asking blank-eyed locals the way to 'Happysburg'. Well how else would you pronounce Happisburgh? Haresbrer, that's how.

Haresbrer? Really? Not when I lived there. Hayz-bruh perleeeze!

 

[MisterStan]

Haresbrer? Really? Not when I lived there. Hayz-bruh perleeeze!

You see, even the locals can't agree!

 

[User169]

Haresbrer? Really? Not when I lived there. Hayz-bruh perleeeze!

Deffo Hayz-bruh when I lived in Norfolkshire!