Apr. 14th, 2013 10:43 pm
Speaking American
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muckefuckI was hardly back from breakfast with Scruffy and Graysong this morning before I set out for lunch with Nuphy and Blondie. We let Nuphy pick the place, so it was the Gage, of course, but the plus side was that he paid. ("I don't cook, so this is like having people over for me.") He had a concert to attend at 3 p.m., so I accompanied Blondie to the Art Institute and Millennium Park until he was free again. We timed it well, emerging right about the hour when the afternoon warm-up really kicked in and made it comfortable to go coatless.
Once again, Blondie was full of stories about his niblings. At this point, all three of his siblings have reproduced at least twice, so it's quite a gaggle. He makes a point of always speaking to them in Arabic because he doesn't want them to end up like his brother-in-law, who's barely conversational in it despite having grown up in Bahrain. That led to this exchange with his elders niece:
"Uncle Blondie, you should learn English!"
"I know English."
"The why don't you use it?"
"I do use it in America. But we're in Bahrain. What are the official languages here?"
"Arabic and English."
"And in America?"
[pause] "Arabic and American?"
Once again, Blondie was full of stories about his niblings. At this point, all three of his siblings have reproduced at least twice, so it's quite a gaggle. He makes a point of always speaking to them in Arabic because he doesn't want them to end up like his brother-in-law, who's barely conversational in it despite having grown up in Bahrain. That led to this exchange with his elders niece:
"Uncle Blondie, you should learn English!"
"I know English."
"The why don't you use it?"
"I do use it in America. But we're in Bahrain. What are the official languages here?"
"Arabic and English."
"And in America?"
[pause] "Arabic and American?"