On this latest trip to Singapore, I experienced two strange conversations that made me think I was beginning to lose my ability to process linguistic information.
No.1
Susan: I won’t be here next week. I’ll be going to Bandung.
Susan: I won’t be here next week. I’ll be going to Bandung.
Me: Ah, Bandung! I was there in December 1973. Ate avocado pear for the first time there.
Susan: I love avocado pears. Every time I go, I’ll be sure to eat some.
Me: How many times have you been to Bandung?
Susan: This is my first.
Me: But you said “every time I go”.
Susan: Oh, I meant Indonesia.
No.2
At a Chinese New Year lunch for the restaurant staff. Lady Boss’s friend (LBF) (in her early 70s, I think) sat to my right, with Zhang Ming, one of the cooks, opposite me.
At a Chinese New Year lunch for the restaurant staff. Lady Boss’s friend (LBF) (in her early 70s, I think) sat to my right, with Zhang Ming, one of the cooks, opposite me.
Me: Zhang Ming, you can get on to the internet on your hand phone, right? Can you google a famous Brazilian footballer for me? I want all of you to take a look at him. I think Heidi [the manager] looks like him.
Before Zhang Ming could even start keying in “google”:
LBF: No, she doesn’t.
Me: But you haven’t seen what he looks like yet!
LBF: She doesn’t look like him.
Me: How do you know that, when you haven’t even seen what he looks like?
LBF: He’s a footballer.
It would've made more sense if she'd said, "How can a woman look like a man?" but on the basis that he's a footballer?!?
(Singapore, 2016)
(Singapore, 2016)
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