It really just happened to me
 

Registering as a new patient at the doctor's office: on telling the med tech I was born in England, she asked me "Do they speak English there?"

:rofl:

Re: It really just happened to me
 

You could reply "well, we take English classes in school" - it'd be true!

Re: It really just happened to me
 

The correct answer is: "Of course, we speak the Queen's English unlike Americans."

Re: It really just happened to me
 

The best answer I could come up with is "Do you speak English here?"

Re: It really just happened to me
 

:rofl::rofl: I had exactly that from an employee about 10 years ago. My response was to say:

Well in France they speak..... French
In Germany they speak.....German
In Italy they speak.....Italian
And in America they speak ......American

So what do you think they speak in England?

.....English

All the while allowing her to state the answers with the hope the penny would finally drop by the time we got to England!!

Of course it didn't. Think she is probably CEO of the company by now though.

Re: It really just happened to me
 

I used to have a South Korean hairdresser who asked me how I had learnt to speak "American" so well. I had to explain that American's speak English etc. Neither was she aware that Britain was an island. However as I would be hard pushed to find South Korea on a map I forgave her. And if George W can talk about speaking Mexican, what hope is there?

Re: It really just happened to me
 

To be fair, I think the lady would have been more at home with Spanish than English herself. I also had to spell "England" for her!

Re: It really just happened to me
 

Once while working for a school district I had teacher ask me to say something in my native language,
My Reply
"something"
Her reply "anything"
and so on until other technician said English is his native language.

Re: It really just happened to me
 

I would avoid embarrassing the American who has asked the naive question by carefully avoiding speaking English. Simply print out this vocabulary and carry it with you at all times, and translate whatever you wish to say to an American before delivering your statement.

Re: It really just happened to me
 

I was living in Wales when I met my wife. Her younger brother asked if I spoke English.

Re: It really just happened to me
 

On the phone at work the other day I had a very rude spanish lady who was struggling to string a sentence together tell me 'you need to speak better english, I can't understand you'.

I bit my tongue. HARD.

Then today in Kroger the cashier asked if we were from England (my 'import' T shirt with the big ass union jack on it may have been a hint).... and my smarty pants 13 year old said 'Canada'..... her response..... 'really? is that near London?' , and yes, she was deadly serious. :huh:

Re: It really just happened to me
 

During my divorce I was injured in a motorcycle wreck. Ex's attorney wanted to nkow why I wasn't working 2 weeks after the crash with a leg & arm in in plaster.

He asked if I ever BBQ'd at home..

Yes...

So why can't you work at Macdonalds while you're unable to work as a mechanic..

Well apart from the fact I have 2 limbs in plaster casts....because the people at the drive thru can't understand MY accent when I order, so the other customers are also unlikely to understand my accent if I was working there...

Have you considered community college classes to learn English?

Where the hell do you think I come from?




....oh yeah, that comment bought everything to a halt for a minute while I explained just what frigging language we speak in England...

Re: It really just happened to me
 

Thats great:) London, Ontario though?

Re: It really just happened to me
 

You'll also find that they cannot decide when we spell a word whether it's an "a" we're spelling or an "e" to the point that when I now spell my name, I ask them for a piece of paper because I just get frustrated. I also just noticed you're in Tarrytown - love the place!!!! We were going to move there when we emigrated, but then decided on Connecticut, but we still come through and visit Leftkas Gyro in the Main Street - love their gyro's, especially sitting outside in the summer watching the world go by. Just thought I'd pop that bit in :D

Re: It really just happened to me
 

I've had those conversations on the phone..

"A"

Did you say "I"?

No, "A"

E?

"A" you cloth eared idiot!

"I" for indian?

NO! FFS! A for A$$HOLE! Go look in the frigging mirror for an explanation!