[QUOTE=CarnalK]
It sure looks like it.
[/QUOTE]
FTR I missed it too. 
-FrL-
May I say, as the only on-Board representative for Khoisan peoples , therefore self-appointed Ambassador for Kalahari* Tongue-Clickers everywhere:
Pttttthhhhbbbttthhh!
*note spelling
[QUOTE=MrDibble]
May I say, as the only on-Board representative for Khoisan peoples , therefore self-appointed Ambassador for Kalahari* Tongue-Clickers everywhere:
Pttttthhhhbbbttthhh!
*note spelling
[/QUOTE]
<pitnick>
Or even better, Kgalagadi.
[QUOTE=Nzinga, Seated]
Well… I wasn’t going to say nothing but…
In my job, I support a small handheld computer. We get customers of every stripe. I mean across the board. English, Japanese, Chinese, Middle Eastern, African, Spanish.
I never once had a customer yell at me for not speaking their language. Not a single time. Every time I hear these stories I …welll, not to say I disbelieve. But I am wondering if maybe it is something in the rep’s demeanor that is causing the customer to become upset?
I have customers get angry with me for almost ever conceivable, real or imagined, infraction. And I have muddled frustratedly through some of the thickest accents on the planet. But I never, ever had a customer yell at me for not speaking their language.
[/QUOTE]
I have had this conversation multiple times…
ME - Thank you for calling (company), this is Russell. How can I help you?
Them - Habla espanol? (or you speak-a spanish or similar)
Me - I’m sorry no. Would you like me to get an interpreter?
Them - Does someone there speak spanish?
Me - No, but I can get an interpreter.
At that point, they often make a short remark and hang up or berate me because I don’t speak their language (usually spanish). Sometimes they relent and allow me to call an interpreter. It may not have happened to you, but it does happen.
[QUOTE=CBEscapee]
I can’t recall how many times I’ve heard Americans here demand that we speak English.
“What is wrong with these damn people? I mean, you know, if they want our tourist buck they should godadamn learn to speak English.”
Next time someone expects me to speak English I think in the spirit of the OP I’ll “mandarlo a la chingada”.
[/QUOTE]
That’s the ugly American none of us wish existed, but definately does. The beer-gutted, git-r-done t-shirt wearing, NASCAR watching, Bush voting, Wal-Mart shopping variety, or the over-priviliged, old money, look-down-their-noses-at-you nouveau-riche types, in any case, we’re just as ashamed of them as you are annoyed.
That said, when you’re on our side of the border, and expect to conduct business with, well, business, speaking English is the only way to 1) know you’re not getting ripped off, and two, to be as safe as you possibly can in as many situations as are possible.
example; A Spanish speaking man walks into a police station lobby with a brown paper bag. He walks up to the window, puts the bag on the counter, and begins to attempt to communicate with the dispatcher in Spanish. While doing so, begins to remove the contents of the bag (a snubnose .38) to show the dispatcher. The dispatcher fearing for her safety calls in the cavalry, they arrive, and proceed to administer a street adjustment to the perpetrator.
During the course of this, it is discovered that the gentleman had been shot (albeit superficially) that very night with that very gun, and he was bringing it to the police station to dispose of, and looking for some aid.
A little English would have helped prevent that.
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum]
Try watching a Welshman on BBC America. You’ll come close to what they were trying to convey to you.
[/QUOTE]
Watching? I’ve spent more than a week in Wales recently…I’ve also been to parts of Scotland where it was quite difficult to follow what was being said.
[QUOTE=Una Persson]
Watching? I’ve spent more than a week in Wales recently…I’ve also been to parts of Scotland where it was quite difficult to follow what was being said.
[/QUOTE]
Haway owah heor, hinney – yiv hord nowt yet. 
[featherlou: that one is in English]
[QUOTE=WotNot]
Haway owah heor, hinney – yiv hord nowt yet.
[featherlou: that one is in English]
[/QUOTE]
Ah, a time-delay accent - after hearing it, it takes a few seconds before it makes sense to me. 
Is it about Newt? Or a newt?