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My co-worker speaks very fluent English and has for decades, but it is not her first language, so she still sometimes fails to come up with the right words for things. Usually I am there to bail her out of her vocabulary snafus, and she will describe what she is trying to say and I will supply the word for her.
She especially tends to fail at idiomatic expressions, though, and will go through cycles of latching on to single ones and using them for everything, even when not really appropriate. Her current favourites are "life is good", which she says as a conversation closer or even appropos of nothing, and sometimes very out of place, such as after an argument with a patron; and "doable", which is a word she usually uses rather wrongly, such as to approve of something done well. She praised the little sign I came up with for a box of forms for some Latina conference by saying it was "doable", for example. (I think she meant "that's good; we can use that", but you can tell she's misunderstanding the meaning.)
All of them sensible everydaynames English-mungings, really.
But every now and then she really produces a little gem of WTFery, such as this one she just uttered after trying to help a patron print a file that turned out to be corrupted and un-openable:
"We're gonna slap little golf balls today."
...
I got nothin' for what she could possibly mean, and I don't want to point it out by asking.
She especially tends to fail at idiomatic expressions, though, and will go through cycles of latching on to single ones and using them for everything, even when not really appropriate. Her current favourites are "life is good", which she says as a conversation closer or even appropos of nothing, and sometimes very out of place, such as after an argument with a patron; and "doable", which is a word she usually uses rather wrongly, such as to approve of something done well. She praised the little sign I came up with for a box of forms for some Latina conference by saying it was "doable", for example. (I think she meant "that's good; we can use that", but you can tell she's misunderstanding the meaning.)
All of them sensible everyday
But every now and then she really produces a little gem of WTFery, such as this one she just uttered after trying to help a patron print a file that turned out to be corrupted and un-openable:
"We're gonna slap little golf balls today."
...
I got nothin' for what she could possibly mean, and I don't want to point it out by asking.
no subject
Date: Mar. 10th, 2008 09:05 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Mar. 10th, 2008 09:09 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Mar. 10th, 2008 10:46 pm (UTC)From:Seriously.
no subject
Date: Mar. 10th, 2008 11:15 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Mar. 10th, 2008 11:52 pm (UTC)From:It certainly pairs nicely with the feeling the situation you described would create, don't you think?
I find a temptation to write that down and start using it. :)
no subject
Date: Mar. 11th, 2008 12:43 am (UTC)From:Maybe...
Date: Mar. 12th, 2008 07:36 pm (UTC)From:(p.s. please continue to give us progress notes after she completes the course)
oy
Re: Maybe...
Date: Mar. 12th, 2008 08:15 pm (UTC)From:Oy, indeed.
Re: Maybe...
Date: Mar. 13th, 2008 12:11 pm (UTC)From:http://www.bubbygram.com/yiddishglossary.htm