Dear Saleslady Person,
I hope you can clear something up for me. I am wondering why, when I asked you a question in Hochdeutsch spoken so slowly and gramatically perfectly it practically screams "I learned this foreign language in a classroom!" you chose to reply not only in Schwiezerdutsch but to speak so quickly that had your words been objects they would have set off tiny sonic booms as they blew through the sound barrier?
What about this interaction led you to select Dialekt? Was it the extremely formal and excessively polite "Hätten Sie...?" Was it the way I constructed a tortured, yet gramatically correct, relative clause to get around the fact that I obviously did not know the specific word for the object I was seeking? Was it the way I soothed my son in English when he fussed during our transaction?
I really want to know, Saleslady Person, what led you to believe I was Swiss so that the next time I am trying to pass I can employ one of these clever ruses so obviously designed to conceal my true identity.
Sincerely,
Swissmiss
Labels: Schweizermacher
2 Comments:
:-) what shall I say.. same thing often happens here when I speak thai. In a way its a compliment that they think you are a local but as you write they probably just don't care....
Lillian you're right, I should be pleased that I sort of pass for local - I think shopping with Small Boy has a lot to do with that. They see me with a stroller and figure I must be local.
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