[Linganth] Substitute x for y

[Jonathan Dembling]

My first experience as an American in a Scottish fish & chip shop ended
with the man asking me if I wanted brown sauce on my haggis & chips. Me:
"What's brown sauce?"  Him: "It's just brown."

But my most disappointing ordering experience was asking for a bitter in
a pub and getting a Miller. (damned alveolar flap!)

Here at home, it took me some time to get my coffee ordering at Dunkin'
Donuts down right. I used to ask for "cream, no sugar", which was
inevitably heard as "cream AND sugar". Then I switched to "JUST cream,
no sugar", but this had no effect (I'm still trying to figure out what
the third ingredient was that they thought I didn't want - this was
before the days of the flavor shot). Finally I've settled into an
effective, if more convoluted, system where I ask for a "coffee with
cream", and wait for the person to ask, "and sugar?" so I can give a
clear shake of the head.

Jonathan


Alexander King wrote:

> As an American in Scotland, I found the easiest was to be understood
> was to order "two fish suppers" and then say "no thankyou" when they
> ask if I want mushy peas with that.
>
> alex
>
> At 20:54 -0500 31/1/05, Jennifer Dickinson wrote:
>
>>  >One solution to my troubles may be to ask for "two portions of fish
>> & chips
>> please".  I'll try that next time.
>>
>> I think this will be an imperfect solution - you are trying to order
>> "fish and
>> chips" as a unit, but in the US, they are separate entities.  If you
>> order "two
>> portions of fish and chips," you will likely get one plate with two
>> portions of
>> fish and two portions of chips.  Try "two orders of fish and chips,"
>> since an
>> "order" conveys the "unit" aspect better.
>>
>> J. Dickinson
>>
>>
>> --
>> "Yes!" to democracy and freedom in Ukraine!
>> _________________
>>
>> Jennifer Dickinson
>> Assistant Professor of Anthropology
>> University of Vermont
>> email:  jennifer.dickinson at uvm.edu
>
>
>