Dec 03 2005
Phonological Similarity IV: Spanish
This Diner conversation dumbfounded me:
Wendy: “I thought I’d ordered a SPANISH omelette”
Waitress: “I thought you ordered a SWISS CHEESE AND BACON omelette“
‘Spanish’ sounds like ‘Swiss cheese and bacon’?
I couldn’t hear the similarty. Later I engaged the waitress in small-talk. She found my speech very difficult to hear even when I used my best Queen’s English and diction. No mumbling. It reminded me of when I first arrived in the US. Just listening to people talk had been suprisingly, physically, tiring. I gave her a big tip for trying so hard to overcome the difficulties of my poor spoken ‘American’.
W Miss-Understood
Phonological Similarity IV: Spanish
