uh, what? No, really. What just happened?

[Kimstu]

Vinyl Turnip FTW!

@Triskadecamus

I still am mystified by the family/friends since it is pretty much not likely that they thought I could understand them, and we were not in a place where it is likely that the Old White Guy speaks our language.

Sounds like you understood them just fine: they were saying something along the lines of “Get out of here and leave her alone!”, and you did.

It also sounds like the misunderstanding originated with Irrational Woman (although I’ll cut her some slack for that because she was already upset and pissed off) who totally misinterpreted your approach and then proceeded to pass along her misinterpretation to the other guys.

I doubt that what she actually said to them was “Hey, I don’t understand what that guy’s trying to say to me, could somebody ask him to explain?” rather than “Hey, that creep keeps trying to talk to me and won’t leave me alone, go tell him to fuck off!” Telling somebody to fuck off knows no language barrier.

[Kimstu]

@Binarydrone

I’ll tell you what makes me sad about this. Even though the OP was very careful to make no overt statements about the ethnicity of this group of people, I am somehow assuming that they are middle easterners of some type. Which I think really shows that the cultural poison is seeping in. Because all I need to hear is that there is a group of people acting in a way that seems loud, confrontational and seeming to create cultural conflict out of good intentions and I immediately assume that there is some middle east connection. It really makes me quite sad.

If it makes you feel any better, I personally was semiconsciously picturing either Filipino or Russian Jewish immigrants in this situation, although I have NO idea why, to be honest.

[VinylTurnip]

@Kimstu

If it makes you feel any better, I personally was semiconsciously picturing either Filipino or Russian Jewish immigrants in this situation, although I have NO idea why, to be honest.

That was probably my fault, as my little dialogue used a really cheesy and affected faux-Russian/Eastern European accent. Dopers with the sound module installed even heard a balalaika being plucked in the background.

[sciurophobic]

@Squink

Walking the southern Swiss alps, I was surprised by how all the women I came across on the trails would greet me with a “mit anderern”, ensuring that I knew for certain that they were under someone else’s protection.
Whatever happened to you came from somewhere else.

So that’s what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps. The Big Lebowski makes so much more sense now.

[MeanOldLady]

@Kimstu

If it makes you feel any better, I personally was semiconsciously picturing either Filipino or Russian Jewish immigrants in this situation, although I have NO idea why, to be honest.

Oh my god. Me too! :eek:

[Harmonious_Discord]

Some people are missing a big point telling Triskadecamus to leave people on a cell phone alone. The lady was asked if she was OK before the cell phone was visible. Regardless it’s pretty sad that asking a question gets you treated like that.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@VinylTurnip

That was probably my fault, as my little dialogue used a really cheesy and affected faux-Russian/Eastern European accent. Dopers with the sound module installed even heard a balalaika being plucked in the background.

I hear a balalaika being plucked everywhere I go.

[muldoonthief]

@tschild

I am sure that is a cross-cultural misunderstanding of some calibre. Miteinander or Miteinand’ in the context of a greeting is the Swiss German/Alemannic equivalent of the US Southern y’all, e.g.

• stereotypical Swiss greeting: Gruezi miteinand’ i.e. Hello y’all
• when greeting a group one can say e.g. Guten Morgen miteinander (the last word indicating that the greeting is not adressed to a particular person)

Great, now that you’ve told him there’ll probably be a rash of bloody body parts stuffed into crevices next time Squink gets to the Alps.

[Acsenray]

@Harmonious_Discord

Some people are missing a big point telling Triskadecamus to leave people on a cell phone alone. The lady was asked if she was OK before the cell phone was visible. Regardless it’s pretty sad that asking a question gets you treated like that.

That’s not how the situation looks to me. He saw she was on the phone and then he approached her again. That’s what sent her running to her co-ethnics.

[Shot_From_Guns]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

I hear a balalaika being plucked everywhere I go.

I just get a bazouki.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

Bet yours doesn’t play The Safety Dance.

[qbadger]

I would recommend you to 221b Baker Street, London. One of the fellows who live there is apparently very good at making sense of this sort of thing.

[Harmonious_Discord]

@acsenray

That’s not how the situation looks to me. He saw she was on the phone and then he approached her again. That’s what sent her running to her co-ethnics.

Triskadecamus

So, I walked over. I spoke to her, but she did not seem to notice me. So, I moved in front of her, and spoke again. At that point I noticed she was talking on a phone.

1. So, I walked over. I spoke to her, but she did not seem to notice me.

2. So, I moved in front of her, and spoke again.

3. At that point I noticed she was talking on a phone.

[Acsenray]

That wasn’t the end of it, HD. After he noticed she was talking on a phone –

Now, the fact is the phone alleviated a big part of my Samaritan impulse, and I was satisfied to simply ask, “Do you need any help?”

He was positively pestering her by that point.

[Shot_From_Guns]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Bet yours doesn’t play The Safety Dance.

“Walk the Dinosaur,” to my chagrin.

[Harmonious_Discord]

@acsenray

That wasn’t the end of it, HD. After he noticed she was talking on a phone –

He was positively pestering her by that point.

I missed that.

[Eugene_of_Sandwich]

Odd situation. Sounds like they had all gotten into a little of the “brown” PCP to me.

[Suburban_Plankton]

@Kimstu

If it makes you feel any better, I personally was semiconsciously picturing either Filipino or Russian Jewish immigrants in this situation, although I have NO idea why, to be honest.

So apparently I’m the only one who pictured an Asian woman (Filipino, I believe, though she might have been Hmong)…

[Yeticus_Rex]

@Triskadecamus

I was walking down the street today. I heard a distressing human voice, although I could not understand exactly what the voice was saying. I stopped, and listened, and looked around. About ten or fifteen yards away was a woman, facing away from me, and yelling, in a highly distressed, tearful, and ragged edged voice. I realized she was speaking in a language unknown to me, but I still felt the impulse to come to her aid, if possible. So, I walked over. I spoke to her, but she did not seem to notice me. So, I moved in front of her, and spoke again. At that point I noticed she was talking on a phone.

Proxemics.

How far away were you when she noticed you? Reactions are also dependent on cultural background as well.

[kaylasdad99]

For some reason I’m reminded of the Simpson’s episode, where Lisa tries to take a bus to the museum all alone, but gets lost because she didn’t realize that the holiday schedule drove a different route. Trying to find her way back to Evergreen Terrace, she wandered through Springfield’s version of Little Moscow, and she asked a man to help her find her way home. He sounded like he was chewing her a new asshole, but the subtitles showed him being very kind and helpful.

So maybe what Tris encountered was effusive thanks and plaudits.