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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:22 pm
by iflyabeech
txinvestigator wrote:iflyabeech wrote:Especially in south Texas, instead of saying "I got out of the car." they say "I got down from the car." Its pretty common actually, and funny!
No, "they" don't, unless by "they" you mean those of Hispanic heritage. The English/Spanish verbs don't translate exactly. I have never heard an anglo use the phrase unless jokingly.
This is not a rub against the group either, just an observation.
I remember as a young rookie cop in Corpus, my partner and I caught two teenage boys coming out from behind a building that was often burglarized. I asked them what there were doing, and one replied, "we were just throwing a leak". I was like,
.
Another odd usage I heard;
A motor cop called in a grass fire, and said he needed the fire department sent because he couldn't "turn off the fire".
Ha! Yes thats what I meant, I was trying not to be offensive. That being said, my friends with perpetual tans and I always have a good laugh with that kind of stuff. I sure missed it when I lived in Alaska! Never fails to put a smile on your face!
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:19 am
by Gyrogearhead
This thread reminds me of a situation my friend from the German Diplomatic Corps found himself in when he was posted to the consul in Argentina.
He said for the first month he simply could not get anything done that involved any of the Argentinians. Finally one of his collegues explained that *manyana* did not mean something would for sure be done tomorrow; it meant it would not be done today!
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:19 pm
by lawrnk
That was funny. I'm protestant, so as a little boy I'd never seen a nun. My mom said when I was 3 in a grocery she overheard me ask a nun if she was a WITCH.
She wagged her finger and said "Little boy, you have a dirty face"
MrsFosforos wrote:That reminds me of a time when I was caught off guard at a stop light.
Out of the blue, there was someone banging on MY DRIVER's SIDE WINDOW.
First off the mere fact someone was banging on my window scared the daylights out of me (even though it was broad daylight). Startled, I jumped and looked...
Second off, the person standing outside my window was short in stature, so her face was level with mine.
She had a "crazy, wrinkled old hag" look about her AND she was smiling with her toothless face.... and she was literally standing INCHES FROM MY FACE >>> if I hadn't been tied down by my seat belt I would have probably hit my head on the roof of the truck, I jumped again so violently.
Her mere physical appearance, as well as the fact that she was SO CLOSE TO ME (just on the other side of the car window) scared the daylights out of me.
My first reaction was to YELL at her (through the closed window), "YOU CRAZY OLD BAT -- YOU ALMOST SCARED ME TO DEATH!".
She just stood there with her toothless grin, nodding like she was agreeing with me.
Then I looked a little more closely, she had a habit like thing on her head - like a nun. I'm thinking she was a CRAZY nun! and then OH MAN I JUST SCREAMED at a nun! (I'm thinking to myself, "even if she is crazy and standing on the street, banging on my window -- I probably shouldn't be calling a nun a crazy old bat").
Then I widened my focus. She was on some fund raising drive with a bucket in her hand. There were other people with nun looking things on their heads spotted up and down the intersection, with buckets in their hands too.
Even so, why would any one step into a BUSY STREET and bang on someone's window. Good LORD!
All this happened within the short time it takes a light to turn from RED to GREEN on Garland Rd & Buckner Blvd in Dallas.
The light changed and I drove away. She still stood there, still smiling and nodding at me like she didn't hear me just call her a CRAZY OLD BAT . Maybe she didn't.
After I drove away and was a few blocks away, I got to thinking it over and got into a laughing fit. I had to pull over into a parking lot. I was laughing so hard I couldn't drive.
It was a really weird experience. It did teach me a lesson about paying attention to my surroundings during a stop at a red light!
