Tuesday, February 15, 2011

"Go! You Go!"

Reflecting on a recent blog post, which showed how confusion can occur if even one word is misunderstood, I recalled an incident that happened once in class when I was teaching English to immigrants.

At break time, a young student approached me and said: I have a problem. I don't understand why people tell me to go at the store.

They tell you to leave?

Yes, he replied.

I was puzzled.

Did you do something wrong? Did you touch something you weren't supposed to?

No, he replied. I just buy my stuff. I pay for it. And then the cashier tells me to go.

Is he angry?

No, he's smiling. He gives me my change and says: "Go. You go."

I suddenly recognized the intonation in his words...

Oh! The cashier isn't saying "Go, you go." He's saying: "There you go!"

There you go? What does that mean?

There you go? It means: I'm finished. You can go now!

The student smiled, relieved that he wasn't being asked to leave the store!

No comments:

Post a Comment