Character Counts
Matt, an eighth-grade teacher, was in a hurry at the store. Guests were about to arrive at his home, and he had a small list of things to buy. With 14 items in his basket, he decided to chance it and use the "10 items or less" express line.
His heart pounded when he saw Phil, one of his students, come toward him. Matt talked a lot about honesty and ethics in class and, as he feared, Phil was all too happy to catch him doing something wrong. With a big "gotcha" smile, Phil loudly proclaimed, "You have too many items. That's cheating."
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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....
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