Sunday, October 23, 2011

A light moment from Fremont, San Francisco, California

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There are always some funny moments when you are in a different country which does not know yours, as the following

I was watching rugby once on TV and later told my colleague about it. She asked what is rugby, understandably since in USA the primary sports are baseball and American football, which they call football. I told her it was a game similar to football and the best team in the world are the New Zealand All Blacks. She asked me if that meant all their players are black like black Americans? I said no, only their uniform is black and they are not necessarily black. No one in the British Commonwealth like Singapore or Malaysia would have asked that question!

When I first arrived here, I did not have a car and going to San Francisco Bus Depot, I asked a guy passing how do I get to Sacramento. Sacramento is about 3 hour drive from San Francisco. He told me "Catch the Dog". Puzzled by his answer which made no sense, I looked surprised. Looking at me he reassured me by saying "You know the dog goes everywhere". I was even more surprised, thanked him and walked away. A minute later I looked up at the street and lo and behold, before me there was a big bus with a huge picture of a greyhound dog on it's side. Only then did I realise that he was telling me to catch the Greyhound Bus Lines, a long distance bus company that goes to Sacramento, and for that matter everywhere else!

Sometimes it is funny when you are some where else. Life! I enjoy it every minute. Especially writing this blog.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are not alone in getting confused with overseas English.

I went to Australia. (OK you can stop laughing now)

When someone told me Ta, took me 2 days to figure out that someone is thanking me.

Everyone know Rugby because I am in Sydney. (Aussie Rule footy is a VIC state game and has less following here)

But why Shaky Isles (NZ) and Across the ditch (NZ again). Beats me.

And Aussie reply to the All Blacks Haka. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QflHh0hT6mQ