Oh good Christ, I am hosed. At the girls swim lessons there is a little girl from Connor's preschool class. Her mom is a really nice lady and we talk in between refereeing girls - she has 2 herself. She's originally from England, married to an Irish National and they live here. I, obviously am from America but I have some TX euphemisms mixed in with my hardcore Jersey slang. Most of the time we have no flippin clue what the other is saying. We keep blaming it on the loud noise of the indoor pool but who are we kidding? We're trying to translate between several different languages.
For example, she said her name is Esta. Now, I'm not sure if it's actually Esta or if it's Esther. Aussies' seem to hate er endings just like our friends from Boston...don't be angry Bostonites - you know damn well it's true.
We've talked about getting the girls together for a play...at least I think we have...I don't know, maybe I've just signed Connor up yodeling camp. We'll see if anyone shows up for her. At least Esta/her is in the same boat as I am. I can see the smile form when I talk and the furtive looks from her eyes trying to pinpoint the moment I speak to the moment it'll be something she understands.
I'd offer to start using Sign Language but I've found out the hard way that Aussies have their own damn sign language too. Sigh...maybe I'll just make up flash cards.
An American family living in Australia. While we all speak English here, I wouldn't say we all speak the same language.
1 comment:
Aussies have their own flash cards too.
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