That serves me right for eavesdropping:)

martlin

martlin

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www.martlinequestrian.co.uk
I'm sure it will cause some amusement to you all:D
I have received a call about one of the horses I'm trying to sell - nice ish lady who sounded rather well matched to said horse. I did my best to answer all her vague questions as precisely as I could, one of them being 'Will he be able to carry me?' without actually telling me her weight, I asked as gently as poss and she refused to tell me. So, after a longish chat she arranged to come and see him this afternoon.
This morning I have nipped down to my local Co-op for some bits and pieces and while waiting in a longish cue to the checkout I overheard a conversation between two jodhpur clad ladies, I recognised the voice...
She was telling her friend how cheeky I was to ask how much she weighs and that she is sure it's some sort of scam with a dodgy Romanian, because I sounded like a Romanian dodgy dealer:mad:
I might be many things, but I'm not Romanian, or dodgy dealer for that matter, but anyway, at least I KNOW she won't be coming to see the horse:cool:
So, to all of you who feel uneasy about foreign accents, remember - the fact that somebody speaks with one means that most probably they speak at least one more language than you do:D;)
 
Ooh I would have loved to be in that situation. I would've had to say something :D
Hmmm something along the lines of ' So i'll have him/her tacked up ready for you at 3 then shall I?' then winked at her and flounced out :rolleyes:
 
You should have taken a pic Martlin!

What a silly moo. I reckon she was probably embarrassed about the fact she was going to be too heavy so span it around to question your integrity and try to discredit you instead of you being able to turn her down for being a lardass!
 
I'm Polish... according to people who know me and speak to me on regular basis, it's obvious I'm not British, but difficult to place otherwise and summed up often as nondescript continental:)
 
*giggles*

Sorry, but it it is quite funny really. I love the idea of her asking if he'd carry her weight and then refusing to tell you what it was. Perhaps in future you'd be better off saying "He'd be happy carrying up to *whatever the weight is*" and letting the wobble buckets (myself included) decide whether that suits.

As for foreign languages / accents, in my ex-FIL when I first met him I detected a hint of an accent but as he spoke English 100% perfectly I assumed that it was just his South African origin, although he'd left there 50 years before, and that English was his first language. Wrong. His first language was whatever variation of Russian they speak in Latvia-Estonia - or spoke in Latvia-Estonia before the war, his second language was Yiddish, his third language Afrikaans and he didn't really learn English until he went to university. Made my O level French and German look a bit pathetic! Especially as he has now taught himself most modern European languages and can speak and read Japanese. (and will proudly tell you he has mastered American as well - probably one of the most difficult he says, explaining his issue with their use of the word bathroom when all he wanted was a pee, not a bath!)
 
I agree it is fairly funny, but offensive at the same time... I hate speaking to strangers on the phone as it is and this little incident didn't do anything good to my confidence in that department. I often get the impression (although probably most of it is in my head) that I'm not being taken seriously because of sounding foreign...
 
I'd forgotten that you found talking to strangers difficult. :( Don't let this put you off, she was just a stupid woman.

To clarify, what I thought was funny was her asking about his weight carrying capabilities and then refusing to tell you her weight. :confused: I'd intended the tone of my post to be sympathetic.:(

I used to employ a Scottish secretary with a strong Glaswegian accent and people used to complain to me that they couldn't understand her. I found that offensive for her, I'd employed her because she was good at her job.
 
heeeeeee heeeee, what a silly lady.

I advertised a horse for loan and during a phone call with a lady said "he's had a bad back in the past". Anyway the car turns up and as the two ladies get out it raises by about a foot and sighs with relief. She did have a little ride but as the horse was looking uncomfortable after 5 mins I said he was tired so ended the trial and said I'd think about it. Funny enough he went to someone else. I'm a bit large myself but she was huuuuuge.
 
jemima_too said:
I'd forgotten that you found talking to strangers difficult. :( Don't let this put you off, she was just a stupid woman.

To clarify, what I thought was funny was her asking about his weight carrying capabilities and then refusing to tell you her weight. :confused: I'd intended the tone of my post to be sympathetic.:(

I used to employ a Scottish secretary with a strong Glaswegian accent and people used to complain to me that they couldn't understand her. I found that offensive for her, I'd employed her because she was good at her job.
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Don't worry, I know what you meant:)
As to Xenophobia... I don't know, the local villages are full of immigrants, I haven't noticed much.
Tbh, the xenophobic ones are bad enough, but I also find the congratulatory, friendly types rather tiresome:o. The general conversation going like this:
'where are you from?'
I'm Polish
'well done! do you like England?'
Not much difference tbh to home
'oooh, but surely you don't have (insert whatever)'
 
I love accents, sounds sad but I make a bit of a game of trying to work out where people are from whether its a regional UK accent or a nother language one. I spend all day on the phone so I need something to keep me from dying of boredom lol. Accents are something that keeps life interesting.

As to people who have english as a second language it always makes me feel realy bad when they apologuise for their english, its a damn sight better than my....well anything other than english, I kinda speak a bit of franglaise but thats about it.

I went to uni with some norweigian (spl?) girls and though their english was fantastic we did have a lot of fun explaining some of the more obscure idioms and phrases to them.

PS. Never challenge a Norweigian to a vodka drinking competition.......
 
Reminds me of one night having a meal; the table next to us were a group of 'ladies that lunch' who had quite loud voices, you couldn't not overhear what they were saying even though we were talking ourselves. They were in the main, pulling other people apart, their choice of husbands or boyfriends, that sort of thing when a name cropped up that had us prick our ears up. We heard all the nitty gritty on why this chap was unsuitable and so on but someone grudgingly said 'but he doesn't look too bad, she hasn't done too badly for herself'. They were still on desserts when we had finished and got up to go and OH just had to go up and say 'Ladies, thank you for a very imformative conversation. It's so nice my sister has your approval on her new boyfriend'. We left them red faced and spluttering, it was classic!
 
To be honest this woman sounds seriously dim-whitted! I am not too sure how she expected you to know if the horse could carry her without knowing her weight or what kind of scam requires knowing someone's weight!

You're better of rid of her now rather than wasting half a day showing her the horse.
 
It is very funny that you overheard what she said, you really should have said something to her!!!

I myself am English but live in France so am completely sympathetic to speaking with a foreign accent. I am always asked where I originate from, and they often can't place my accent, frequently mistaking me with being German. I have to say you write English extremely well !!!:D
 
martlin said:
I agree it is fairly funny, but offensive at the same time... I hate speaking to strangers on the phone as it is and this little incident didn't do anything good to my confidence in that department. I often get the impression (although probably most of it is in my head) that I'm not being taken seriously because of sounding foreign...
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Well, you nondescript continental! Your written English is about 80 billion times better than the written English of an awful lot of native Brits, so you should be very confident about that. I speak a few languages (though nowhere near as well as you write English) and I once overheard two French chatting loudly about me - of course I turned round and replied!
 
HotToTrot said:
Well, you nondescript continental! Your written English is about 80 billion times better than the written English of an awful lot of native Brits, so you should be very confident about that. I speak a few languages (though nowhere near as well as you write English) and I once overheard two French chatting loudly about me - of course I turned round and replied!
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Thank you for the complement, I do my best, my English worsens after a glass or two though:D And when it's more than 3 glasses I start swearing in Polish:eek::D
 
Yes, the horse world is just full of dodgy romanian dealers...!lol I had a dutch ex a few years ago and people always spoke to him like he was stupid, it really annoyed me. He was one of the smartest people i've ever known AND spoke 6 different languages. It was due to him that I was able to get all the info I needed to go out and buy my friesian as he did a lot of the emailing and phoning to Holland for me :D

TBH, im a larger rider and when i was looking at horses a few years ago one of the breeds I looked at was trakehners as i absolutely adore the breed. I was very honest with the dealers/owners and said i was heavier and did they have any horses that would carry me easily (im not THAT big but not the usual skinny rider lol) and the obvious next question i got was how much did I weigh. Of course they asked that otherwise they couldnt tell me if they had a suitable horse.. isnt that common sense?? Its nothing to get offended about, especially when you bring up the subject yourself! :D
 
I have a great empathy with OP. I am born and bred Irish through and through - but due to my education and spending several years in the UK I have (I am told!) a middle class English accent.

In my career I had the misfortune to deal with the public on a regular basis. Like OP I was eavesdropping on a conversation between 2 'ladys' who had a major complaint with my department and after spending much time sorting out their issues they thanked me profusely for my help and politeness in sorting out their problem.

As they waited for paperwork to be printed off they engaged in a conversation about the latest horrfic bombings by the IRA at that time. One of them stated that she had always hated ALL the Irish , they were all murdering B*****s and she could spot one a mile off! The other replied that she agreed wholeheartedly and they they should all have been blasted off the planet years ago when the British had the chance.

I politely leant over and informed her that unlike their fathers who were probably conscripted , mine had been a volunteer 'Irish' during the war and had risen to be a Major in his efforts to protect the free world and in particular the island of Britain and the Irish State.

Exit 2 very red faced ladys who didnt utter a single word to me in response and even left without their paperwork!!.

Tis an interesting old world isnt it! LOL!
 
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