# So, a Romanian lady is sharing my office space this week... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 24, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501 "2014-11-24T18:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/21 "2014-11-25T06:35:31Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Aren’t Roma and Romanian two separate ethnicities anyway? So which was she – Romanian or Roma? Romanian. And still is actually. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/22 "2014-11-25T06:48:23Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > at least I can understand about 60% of the French spoken. your problem is that you speak French, not Portugese. Romanian and Portugese are mutually understandable. Nobody knows why. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/23 "2014-11-25T11:25:18Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Romanian. And still is actually. Funny how often that is true. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/24 "2014-11-25T13:57:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Romanian. And still is actually. I should certainly hope so; otherwise, those are some truly poor computer skills she’s got. I once finalized a mortgage with a loan officer at a bank. The woman was from England and spoke with a broad Cockney accent… except for financial terms, which came out in absolutely flat American. So, imagine Eliza Doolittle saying “fiduciary responsibility.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/25 "2014-11-25T14:03:42Z")
Maybe ten years ago, northern California reached a peak in Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, maybe 200k or so that arrived over a fairly short time. There were quite a few culture clashes, mostly minor and gentle (although the minority who lived on onions and cabbages and didn’t bathe often caused a few hazmat alerts… pewww). I knew they’d integrated when I walked up to a counter at Macy’s and the truly lovely clerk was talking to a co-worker in machine-gun Russian, then turned to me with a smile and said, “May I help you?”… without the slightest trace of an accent. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/26 "2014-11-25T17:43:17Z")
I’m reading the OP as being amused by the sound of someone speaking a language unknown to him, interspersed with words and phrases in English. Not seeing any bigotry there against Romanians. People going from that to “all Romanians are crooks” should dial it way back. Thanks, **twickster** , MPSIMS moderator ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/27 "2014-11-25T17:49:28Z")
Well **twickster** , that’s exactly why I was amused. The thick European accent sprinkled with common IT phraseology was funny to hear. Nothing more was meant than that. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/28 "2014-11-25T17:52:41Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’m reading the OP as being amused by the sound of someone speaking a language unknown to him, interspersed with words and phrases in English. Not seeing any bigotry there against Romanians. I’ve posted this before, but - years back on one of the indy stations, they ran a Japanese soap opera (set in a small regional hospital ). There were two reasons we watched it - one actor, the anesthesiologist, had a double-bass voice and it was entertaining to hear Japanese spoken at such a low pitch. The other was because of a frequently-run ad for a local bank with an Asian, mostly Japanese clientele. The visuals were dull, greenish snapshots of the bank, happy customers, etc. The audio was a very high-pitched woman speaking Japanese, very rapidly and with great inflection. Then, at the end, came the carefully-enunciated slug: “Mem-Bah-Eff-Dee-Aye-See.” Cracked us up every time. ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/29 "2014-11-25T18:16:35Z")
I took the OP exactly as intended. Growing up in Texas I heard many conversations in rapid Spanish with English words stuck in here and there. Even more jarring to me is listening to news reporters reading a story in their bland, no-accent newscaster voice but when they reach a Spanish name, say for example Roberto Herrera, they suddenly speak with a full Spanish accent \*and \*roll every **r** like trilling birds. Then they return to their bland voice. Cracks me up every time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/30 "2014-11-25T18:21:04Z")
God, y’all. You’re making me stand in solidarity with **ZPGZealot** here. Seriously. I also find it very funny to hear news broadcasts in foreign languages and it’s blahblahblahblah Lady Gaga blah blah blah Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/31 "2014-11-25T21:53:14Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > Yeah, I met this Romanian Gypsy----I mean Roma—once. It was horrible. He taught me calculus. Yeah, yeah this happened to me too, once. He taught me Romanian numerals. ---
**Author:** ![Bernd\_Stromberg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Bernd\_Stromberg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernd_Stromberg)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/32 "2014-11-26T00:11:23Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Ethnic jokes based on stereotypes aren’t very amusing. I doubt you would find such a remark acceptable if it was made about sharing an office with an African American woman. Or a remark about guarding one’s anus if the person was sharing an office with a gay man, would you? Lighten up, Francis. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/33 "2014-11-26T02:52:41Z")
Back to the OP as it was: “\_\_\_\_-glish” is especially pervasive when it comes to computerese. And yes it sometimes sounds really freaky especially if the base language is substantially different. Oh, and add me in to those bemused by the hyper-corrected accent when doing Spanish names. Og help them if they have to start reporting about Russians. > [@BigT](#): > > While true, there is no ethnic stereotype that Romanians steal things. That’s the joke. Actually once when I was in Paris, France, I kept having people find it incumbent to warn me about the Romanians running scams. And they meant the Romanians, NOT the Roma. Apparently they were the undesirable-immigrant-du-jour at the time. But yeah, the “lock your valuables” line was kind of jarring as it came out of nowhere. The one about not letting her near your neck (vampires, since it’s the home of Vlad Dracula) was a wee bit more topical and amusing. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/34 "2014-11-26T03:29:21Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > your problem is that you speak French, not Portugese. > > Romanian and Portugese are mutually understandable. > > Nobody knows why. 🙂 Just want to confirm this is totally true. I’ve known a lot of Brazilians, and it used to baffle me that every Brazilian I meet seems to have a bunch of Romanian friends. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/35 "2014-11-26T04:51:43Z")
By coincidence, I just came back from two weeks in Bucharest meeting with software engineers. I heard a lot of that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/36 "2014-11-26T04:52:24Z")
When I picture a Romanian lady…I see pale white skin and jet black hair. And blood red eyes. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/37 "2014-11-26T11:16:24Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > your problem is that you speak French, not Portugese. > Romanian and Portugese are mutually understandable. > Nobody knows why. 🙂 > [@even\_sven](#): > > Just want to confirm this is totally true. I’ve known a lot of Brazilians, and it used to baffle me that every Brazilian I meet seems to have a bunch of Romanian friends. I don’t know about Portuguese; but I’m given to understand that Romanian resembles classical Latin more closely than any of the other languages – the Romance language group – which are descended from it. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/38 "2014-11-26T15:49:25Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Aren’t Roma and Romanian two separate ethnicities anyway?.. Yes. The Roma, or “Gypsies” as they are sometimes called, are an ethnic group that is widespread across Europe but especially concentrated in the east, in places like Romania, Albania, and Greece. They have their own language, Romani, that is an Indo-European language but that is closer to Hindi and Farsi than the surrounding languages. The sound similarity between “Roma” and “Romania” is afaik a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/39 "2014-11-26T15:50:34Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Just want to confirm this is totally true. I’ve known a lot of Brazilians, and it used to baffle me that every Brazilian I meet seems to have a bunch of Romanian friends. Quite interesting. I know a Brazilian and when she got an opportunity to work in Europe, she went straight to Romania. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501/40 "2014-11-26T17:09:29Z")
Do avoid the Gypsy Pie at office potlucks. (Note to the humor impaired offenderatzi: That is a literary reference.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-a-romanian-lady-is-sharing-my-office-space-this-week/705501.md?page=3)