When English isn’t English: Sometimes we don’t speak the same language even when we are speaking the same language
Over the past week, there have been three or four occasions when I was struck by the differences between American English and Maltese English. Most of the time, I can compensate for my ignorance and sometimes, I just stumble into the gaping trap if false friends (the term that grammarians use for words that sound like English, but do not actually mean what they sound like.) Here is one funny example:
In order to print items, I have to send the file to the front desk. Reception then accesses the file and prints it. On the night when I set off the fire alarm because my cheesecake leaked onto the oven burner, I sent a file to be printed.
I go downstairs and tell the woman at the desk that I was sorry about setting off the fire alarm, but I was baking a cheesecake.
She said that there wasn’t really any problem, and that the fire alarm goes off in different rooms about three times a week or more. Then she says, “Tell me.”
Huh. She’s interested in the story. Okay. “Well, I’m making cheesecake, and it uses a spring form pan, which comes in three parts. I must not have put the pan together correctly because it leaked into the bottom of the oven and caused a lot of smoke.”
She politely laughed and said, “So, tell me.”
Now, I am a little confused. Really that was all there was to the story. “Well, you see, American cheesecake…”
She has this questioning look on her face, and that is when it hits me – in Malta, they say “tell me” to mean “what is your question” or “how can I help you.”
The light bulb goes on, and I change mid-sentence, “Uhhhhh, right. I sent you something to be printed. I forgot what ‘tell me’ can mean in Malta…”
In order to print items, I have to send the file to the front desk. Reception then accesses the file and prints it. On the night when I set off the fire alarm because my cheesecake leaked onto the oven burner, I sent a file to be printed.
I go downstairs and tell the woman at the desk that I was sorry about setting off the fire alarm, but I was baking a cheesecake.
She said that there wasn’t really any problem, and that the fire alarm goes off in different rooms about three times a week or more. Then she says, “Tell me.”
Huh. She’s interested in the story. Okay. “Well, I’m making cheesecake, and it uses a spring form pan, which comes in three parts. I must not have put the pan together correctly because it leaked into the bottom of the oven and caused a lot of smoke.”
She politely laughed and said, “So, tell me.”
Now, I am a little confused. Really that was all there was to the story. “Well, you see, American cheesecake…”
She has this questioning look on her face, and that is when it hits me – in Malta, they say “tell me” to mean “what is your question” or “how can I help you.”
The light bulb goes on, and I change mid-sentence, “Uhhhhh, right. I sent you something to be printed. I forgot what ‘tell me’ can mean in Malta…”