Date:  Fri, 8 Mar 1996 09:30:39 -0500

From:  "Dennis R. Preston" <preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PILOT.MSU.EDU>

Subject: Re: Inter-variety miscommunication



AHA! David's Strohs story (below), reminds me of an even more touching one.

While I was in Poland in the early '70's, I once returned to western New

York with the director of the institute where I worked in Pozanan for a

student and faculty exchange business trip. I took my Polish friend to a

'local bar,' walked up to the bartender, and, wanting the visitor to try a

local brew, asked for 'two Kochs.' Now, any western NYer can tell you that

the native pronunciation of Kochs is 'cooks,' but I assume my new-found

linguistic skills in Polish (and perhaps even the presence of a Polish

speaker) led me to say [koxs]; imagine the surprise (need I say terror?) of

my Polish friend and me when we ended up with two Cokes! (ARRRRRRGH!)



Dennis Preston'ski



>From:  NAME: David Bergdahl

>    FUNC: English

>    TEL: (614) 593-2783          <BERGDAHL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]A1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LANCE>

>To:   MX%"ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga.cc.uga.edu"[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAX[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MRGATE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAX

>

>On inter-variety miscommunication:

>

>    When I visited Athens, OH from Syracuse, NY with my wife and child to

>find housing Easter week 1968, it was a warm 60ish day and at the OU Inn where

>we were having dinner, my wife and I ordered two planters' punches. They came

>without straws. I went to the bar and asked for two straws for our drinks and

>the bartender said he couldn't give 'em to me, but our waitress did. After

>finally finding the waitress and explaining our difficulty, she returned with

>two bottles of Stroh's beer!.

>

>    (Athens has low back vowel mergers and coming from L.I. I don't)

>

>BERGDAHL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAXA.CATS.OHIOU.EDU

>        David Bergdahl

>            Ohio University/Athens

>        "Where Appalachia meets the Midwest"--Anya Briggs



Dennis R. Preston

Department of Linguistics and Languages

Michigan State University

East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA

preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu.edu

Office: (517)432-1235

Fax: (517)432-2736