XPost: rec.puzzles, alt.usage.english, alt.proverbs   
   From: tonycooper214@gmail.com   
      
   On Sun, 9 Jun 2024 00:35:45 +1000, Peter Moylan    
   wrote:   
      
   >On 04/06/24 09:01, HenHanna wrote:   
   >   
   >> If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his   
   >> head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his   
   >> heart.   
   >   
   >At various times I have been in places where my command of the local   
   >language was somewhere between zero and negligible. That must happen to   
   >anyone who has done a bit of travelling. How does one deal with this?   
   >   
    I am so monolingual that I was identified as an American after saying   
   only "Zwei bier" in a crowded pub in Germany.   
      
   One way I coped in restaurants was casually strolling around noticing   
   what other patrons were being served, and telling the waiter "We'll   
   have what those people over there are having" and pointing to a table   
   where something looked good.   
      
   When we were in Europe in the early 1970s, not as many natives spoke   
   English as we found on later trips.  In Germany, I got a bad case of   
   athlete's foot (tinea pedis) from wearing wet shoes.  In the US, I   
   could buy a tube of Desenex and clear it up quickly.  It was a major   
   problem finding a comparable product in Munich in 1972.  Google was   
   not available to tell me the German term for "athlete's foot".   
      
   There was a young couple (of unknown nationality to me) taking   
   photographs of each other at the Olympic grounds.  I offered - by hand   
   motions - to use their camera to take a photo of both of them   
   together.   
      
   They interpreted my gestures to mean I was intent on stealing their   
   camera, and started shouting for the police.  At least, whatever they   
   were shouting sounded like a call for the cops.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)