# Why is broken English seen as cute by fluent English ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2013, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008 "2013-12-23T11:11:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/41 "2014-12-30T19:05:14Z")
This thread reminds me of this [scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th0G8rkhBqg)in Casablanca. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/42 "2014-12-30T23:30:12Z")
> [@OurLordPeace](#): > > Lots of people who grow up in ostensibly English-speaking countries speak broken English, and that’s not cute at all. > > Stop saying “like” all the time! > Conjugate the verb “to be,” please! > The word is “ask,” not “ax/axe/aks!” Yes, I am aware of the history on that one, but that was then, and this is now. > “Who” refers to the subject, and “whom” to the object! > Antisocial does not mean asocial. The Brits still say that one correctly. > > I could go on and on. It’s not cute at all. I have been tempted to put an axe in my cubicle, and if anyone makes an inquiry about it, tell them that it’s what they are going to get hit with if they don’t stop axing me questions. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/43 "2014-12-31T04:57:47Z")
> [@Morwen Edhelwen](#): > > “He be over there right now” “Right now” is redundant. “He be over there,” expresses the present tense completely. Anyway, there are two Charos: [the comedienne with fractured English](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0561K4Jv5Yk&spfreload=10) and [the one who studied under Segovia.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YfM8wSwFHo) They just try to inhabit the same costume at the same time. And according a US court she really is just a couple years older than me. ¡Cuchi-cuchi! ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/44 "2014-12-31T05:27:53Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > It’s about being patronizing to the person that speaks it, just like you can be patronizing to a baby. The assumption is that a person who speaks in a broken version of your language is something like a baby - not to be taken seriously but to be taken care of by you. The fact that you can’t speak their language at all is ignored. Your language is taken as being a “real” language, while theirs is some minor thing that you have no obligation to speak. Exactly. It’s a lack of respect. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/45 "2014-12-31T05:33:26Z")
> [@Anne\_Lewis](#): > > It’s not "broken’ English, it is a correct translation from Chinese to English. It is not a correct translation, it is a too-literal translation. The correct translation of the Spanish _buenos días_ into English is good morning, not good days. A correct translation conveys the original meaning in the new language accurately and correctly (or with the same level of “defects” as in the original) - if the original does not require mental gymnastics from the recipient, the translation shouldn’t either. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/46 "2014-12-31T06:41:51Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > In every language I have learned, I have found that people just love the fact that you are making the effort and taking an interest. Right now, with Romanian: they love it. Everyone wants to teach me funny things and tongue twisters, they ask me to pronounce things and on and on. > > I feel it with Dutch, even more than with English. If someone wants to learn Dutch I think “huh, why would anyone want to learn Dutch?!”, but then, just the fact that _they do_ is really endearing. It makes me want to help them in their attempts, to explain the difficult grammar and hold their hand 'round the “g”-sound. Maybe like a child, yes, but it’s partially their interest that makes it so cute. > > ETA: Vulnerability! Forget to say that! Speaking a language you struggle with makes you feel, and seem, vulnerable. You might end up looking pretty silly! So we want to comfort people, and help them. Ok… This is where I’ll chip in – Trying to learn Chinese in a Chinese speaking environment is NOT fun in the slightest. Yes, when you go out and make the attempt people do appreciate, But round family and colleagues - they are more likely to laugh at your failed attempts (laughing AT you not WITH you) than they are to help you. There is a really high level of what I think of as “language arrogance” here… And to cap it off - here in Singapore, although they profess to speak both English and Chinese fluently - the level of both in many sectors leaves a lot to be desired ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/47 "2014-12-31T06:51:09Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > My wife uses “how can?” a lot. As in "how can that be true’ “how can it be so cheap”…seems much better than native English actually. More economic and to the point. > > When we were first married 20 years ago, she recorded our answering phone message as “leave a message and we’ll get you back as soon as possible.” 🙂 > > So, there is perhaps a more logical way of speaking English, which is non native, odd and oddly cute. There is also mistakes that have a double entendre. > > I think the “don’t torture me with your English” is a good rule of thumb. As in, I’m cool if you insist on speaking English with me as long as your English isn’t painful to hear when I know my Chinese is pretty good. Has your lao por spent some time in Singapore? “How Can” is the standard complaint in spoken English here - as in “how can like that one?” or “like that, how can?” - meaning, why are you behaving like that, or why are the rules so unfriendly. In other words - why is this situation going against me, it isn’t fair. And other phrases you WILL hear from people that proclaim their first language to be English… Off the lights Close the TV Keep the books Fetch me to the airport Borrow me some money ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/48 "2014-12-31T17:37:35Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > And other phrases you WILL hear from people that proclaim their first language to be English… > > Off the lights > Close the TV > Keep the books > Fetch me to the airport > Borrow me some money That last one is actually used by people in parts of the US who do speak English as their first language. I heard it all the time when I was living in Wisconsin. (There’s even an _MST3K_ skit referencing this regionalism.) I thought it sounded stupid, but it was natural enough for people who grew up there. I don’t see any problem with “[keep the books](http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/keep-the-books)”, that’s a common English phrase. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/49 "2014-12-31T18:03:21Z")
> [@Marlonius](#): > > I work in a professional environment with lots of immigrant engineers reporting to me. I find nothing endearing about broken English whatsoever. It might be cute at the grocery store or restaurant, but in a conference call on a $10M project, it’s just frustrating. > > I constantly strain to understand difficult accents. I put so much effort into simply understanding what they’re trying to say that it often seems to me that the logic centre of my brain is not engaged. In other words, with great effort, I might comprehend that an engineer is proposing to vacuum rate an atmospheric tank, however I’m too focused on understanding his words to contemplate them and immediately shut him down because it’s a stupid idea. I have the same issue in my job. Worse, with a few people, I’m never sure if the person speaking really isn’t being clear because of an English problem, or if they’re using “an English problem” to avoid being clear. \<.\< ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/50 "2014-12-31T21:56:37Z")
Definitely it is cultural whether people consider you speaking their language in a crappy fashion “cute” or just annoying as hell. I find Japanese people in general do not respond well to my now poor, mostly forgotten high school Japanese. I’m not sure why that is, because the phrases I know, I have a pretty good accent and I know I am speaking them properly, but they often do not even attempt to reply back to me in Japanese, which seems quite rude. Filipinos are way OVERLY impressed by you trying to speak Tagalog. I can understand very well and speak broken tagalog to cabbies so that they know not to overcharge me and try to rip me off. I know my grammar is bad and my conjugation sucks, but I can carry on a conversation at least intelligeably. Filipinos often respond with “WOW HE SPEAKS TAGALOG!” when I say the simplest thing. In American English, it would be condescending if someone said “WOW HE SPEAKS ENGLISH!” to someone who speaks broken English, but the filipinos genuinely mean well. I wonder if there is a name for this cultural dichotomy of responding to your native language either warmly or harshly by foreigners. > [@dropzone](#): > > “Right now” is redundant. “He be over there,” expresses the present tense completely. I think your AAVE is not very good. “He be over there” COULD mean he is over there now, or it could mean “He is often over there and may or may not be there now”. So the right now is not redundant, it increases clarity. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/51 "2014-12-31T22:55:21Z")
One of the hardest things to learn for ESL students is the prepositions. They make sense to us, but the fact is, that which preposition a verb takes is often arbitrary. So ESL speakers often use the wrong one, and it causes us to actually visualize, momentarily, both what the speaker has said, and what the literal meaning of the correct preposition is, and sometimes it’s funny. Why do we put on clothes, instead of putting them over, for example. Why do we hang up the phone instead of hanging it off, or hanging it down? And try to explain to someone who is an ESL student when to say that someone is “at the hospital,” and when someone is “in the hospital.” Once they get it, they usually ask why, and there is no answer to that. Something a lot of ESL people get wrong is the expression “If I were in your shoes…” They say “If I were on your shoes.” Why? because when we wear shoes, we put them on, not in. People think literally “If I put on you shoes,” and then get the expression slightly muddled. That’s just one thing, but, IME, it’s a big one. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/52 "2015-01-01T00:00:02Z")
What about this from [Gutnius Jon i raitim](http://www.worldscriptures.org/pages/tokpisin.html)? > [@](#): > > Bipo bipo tru, taim olgeta samting i no kamap yet, Tok i stop: Tok i stop wantaim God na Tok em yet i God. or [John Tell Bout Jesus](http://www.pidginbible.org/conc/44JHN-hwc-1.htm)? > [@](#): > > Da time everyting had start, had one Guy. “God’s Talk,” dass who him. Dat Guy an God, dey stay togedda, an da Guy stay God fo real kine. Do you consider those to be “broken English”? Dialect? Languages in their own right? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/53 "2015-01-01T00:08:13Z")
My paternal grandmother and the relatives of that generation were immigrants who spoke Yinglish, a blend of Broken English and Yiddish. In my youth, I found their way of speaking somewhat embarrassing, but now I’m older, that generation is gone, and I listen to Yinglish with a fond, nostalgic feeling. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/54 "2015-01-01T02:40:33Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Something a lot of ESL people get wrong is the expression “If I were in your shoes…” They say “If I were on your shoes.” Why? because when we wear shoes, we put them on, not in. People think literally “If I put on you shoes,” and then get the expression slightly muddled. The funniest misunderstanding me and my wife have had was similar to this. I drove us to her friend’s house (also Filipino) to pick him up to go somewhere. We parked outside and she called her friend to come outside. He was taking forever, so she called him again to ask him what was taking so long. Me: “Is he coming out? He’s taking forever.” Her: “He’s just wearing his shoes.” Me: “…???” Her: (getting angry at me) “HE’S.JUST.WEARING.SHOES!” She got angry at me because she didn’t realize in American English “He’s just wearing his shoes” means “Naked, except for shoes”, so she couldn’t understand my confusion. Try telling this story to a Filipino, and chances are they won’t get the joke. I still laugh about it. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008/55 "2015-01-01T03:49:57Z")
i didn’t get the joke either until you explained, i didn’t even realise that there would be a confusion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-broken-english-seen-as-cute-by-fluent-english/677008.md?page=2)