I was forwarded a text from a group called The Tree Musketeers:
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From the Tree Musketeers today: If anyone would like any 2yo trees for free, you can come and get them today, Friday and next Wednesday from the Tree Musketeers Tree Nursery at Hackney Marshes. There are elder, cherry plum and rowan going begging, all around 1-2m tall. They’re beautiful trees but we have to take them out of the field now and it’s too late for the council to use them for street/park planting. Please spread the word, I’d love to find homes for them. You’ll need a car or bike trailer unless you live very nearby.
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I then forwarded it to a number of people I know who have a garden or might know people who might be interested.
That evening, I was at a church dinner with one of the people I'd forwarded the text to. Here's the conversation that ensued across the table (let's call her Fu Lay):
FL: What kind of trees are they?
Me: It's in the text, which tells you that they are cherry plum and some others.
FL: How big are they?
Me: It's in the text, which says that they are 1–2m tall.
FL: How old are they?
Me: It's in the text, which tells you that they're 2 years old.
FL: Ah, I didn't understand the "yo" bit.
(London, 2026)
'The "yo" bit' must be the 'If anyone would like any 2yo trees for free' that she did not understand. For the previous questions, I think that she had not read the message carefully enough before sending a reply. Not necessarily a case of dementia, more likely superficial reading...
ReplyDeleteYes, the "yo" bit is from the "2yo trees" which would be instantly guessable, I'd have thought -- that was the bit that worried me: that she couldn't work it out from the context when it's so obvious...
DeleteYou may be right, and I'd be happier for her if you were right: that she'd read it too hastily before asking me (across the dinner table at the church dinner, not sending a text reply). I'd hate to think that she's starting to suffer from dementia... (She's probably in her early/mid 70s, definitely not 80s -- not that 80s would necessarily be the time for dementia...)
As a non-native English speaker, I can testify that "yo" may be harder to guess than what may appear, especially when the context has no clue that we are talking about time or age. It's one of those things that become absolutely obvious only after someone has explained them to me...in the category of "Columbus's egg"...
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