More Language Humor

I truly admire how hard people work at overcoming the language barriers that divide them, and how often their efforts succeed, despite the use of less-than-elegant communications. Two examples from Thailand that struck my funny bone:

While riding on the Bangkok sky train recently, I discreetly peered over the shoulder of a Thai woman to read the English dialogue she was studying and practicing intently. The lesson was entitled, "Discourse with an Old." Since the lesson was accompanied by a sketch of a Western-looking geezer, I surmised that the phrase "an Old" was intended to refer to an elderly person. The dialogue began with the Thai speaker asking, "How old you?" (English teachers in Thailand, as well as writers of English language texts, often are Thais with limited English skills themselves.) After the elderly man responded, the next question is the one that really got me giggling: "You have cataract on your eye globes, is that not right?" (Can you just imagine all the readers of the dialogue eagerly awaiting an opportunity to practice this exciting phrase on an unsuspecting Western man?!)

The second example comes from our Thai driver, who told me recently about another driver's attempt to explain to his boss that he needed time off from his driving duties in order to attend the cremation of his recently deceased father. The only problem was that the Thai didn't know the English word "cremation," so he told his boss he needed time off to "barbecue" his father. Despite this awkward phrasing, the boss quickly grasped what the driver was saying and agreed to the request.