Enrich Your Family Life
A small-town newspaper included the following ad in its Monday edition: "FOR SALE: R. D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Phone 958 after 7 p.m. and ask for Mrs. Kelly who lives with him cheap."
On Tuesday: "NOTICE: We regret having erred in R.D. Jones' ad yes-terday. It should have read: One sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 958 and ask for Mrs. Kelly who lives with him after 7 p.m."
On Wednesday the ad was con-fused again. Finally, on Thursday the ad read: "NOTICE: I, R.D. Jones, have no sewing machine for sale. I smashed it. Don't call 958....
 Continued
|
|
Hurry, Hurry. Fast, Fast
I'm not a sociolinguist but I find languages fascinating. The other day I was walking past a Ghanaian man talking on his cell phone in Twi (a local language here). Suddenly, in the midst of a sea of words I could not understand, I heard, "Hurry, hurry. Fast, fast." Why did he need to switch to English to use those words? In a culture where relationships are valued more than task, where listening to someone is more important than crossing off my "to do" list, where greeting someone before you get to the point of your conversation is a very high value....
Continued |
