Two other countries separated by a common language

[Mark Sacks]

I don't think this is American-vs-Australian confusion. The answerer could
simply have been a nerd.

I long time ago I was running a folk-dance party in a dorm hall at MIT. In
the late afternoon, I noticed it was getting dark and asked a math major
who knew the facility where the lights were. He immediately pointed to the
ceiling; and no, he was not being deliberately funny.

Marc Sacks
msacks at theworld.com

The question,
>
> "Can you use one of these?" ["Would you like to have one of these?"] in
> American
>
> was re-interpreted as:
>
> "Do you have the ability to use of one of these?" in Australian.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org