Slavs and nemtsy

[Francoise Rosset]

><< It is entirely possible you just look like what an English speaker looks
>like to the average person in Russia.

David is undoubtedly right here; or even more generally, Leslie, you looked
like a foreigner -- and the foreigner becomes, generically, a speaker of
English (statistically sound response if you think about it).

In addition, that may have been the ONLY foreign phrase your speaker knew.
Suppose s/he could not identify the other languages you attempted.
S/he could not possibly answer you "je ne parle pas francais," not having
enough French to recognize it in the first place. So they all went "into
default (i.e. anglophone) mode."


Francoise Rosset                          phone:  (508) 286-3696
Department of Russian                     fax:    (508) 286-3640
Wheaton College                           e-mail: frosset at wheatonma.edu
Norton, Massachusetts 02766

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