My husband and I do not speak the same language. I know, NEWSFLASH!!! But no, seriously in this case, we do not speak the same language. I speak Midwestern Michigan and he speaks Great Plains Sandhills. We do both speak English, which is helpful. At times.
For example out here we have breakfast, dinner and supper. No Lunch. Well, do have lunch but it isnt called lunch. Lunch is dinner and dinner is supper. Throughly confused. Yep, me to and its almost been a year.
Thankfully, hubby and I are not the only couple afflected with this problem. Most of the "imported" significant others grew up eating LUNCH at noon and DINNER at 6. From Oregon to South Dakota to Michigan. Maybe its the Sandhillers who got it backwards.
Another example was provided to be my our Pastor. He is from New England yet has been here for years and he still faces the language barrier. His example was when he told his congregation that Easter dinner/supper was "dish to pass". He was met with looks of confusion until someone caught on and informed him it was called "carry in" here.
My favorite example of course involves my husband and a simple conversation of evening plans for a few days down the road. I told him we were "going to have dinner at the bar after I got back into town from picking up the girl scout cookies."
"OK" was the response. So I figured communication had happened. His receptors had successfully received my the message.
Speach Class 115....whoohooo...I DID learn something in college!
Fast forward 2 days and I am cleaning out the horse trailer at 1145am the day of cookie pick up, which didnt start until 5pm and he knew this because I had ask/begged him to drive the trailer down with me to get the cookies. He comes out to the trailer and says "Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?" Thinking "do I look ready for ANYTHING".....I am cleaning out a horse trailer that hasnt been cleaned in MONTHS and during that time has hauled horses, cows, pissed off cows and random lost calves. In nonranch wife terms (pardon my language): it was full of shit. Literally.
"Ready for dinner?"
Uh oh....message may have been received by his receptors but it was an inaccurate message on my part.
Language barrier.
"Uhhh...oops. I meant supper." He just shook his head, went into the house and proceeded to make his own dinner.
Of course there is more to that situation then just Midwestern Michigander vs. Great Plains Sandhiller speach. There is the concept that if, just IF, hubby had listened to the entire conversation about dinner/supper and meeting in town AFTER the cookies had been picked up at 5pm he MIGHT have figured it out then. He could have decoded the message he received.
Alas that is a whole different chapter in the on-going language barrier between men and women.
hey I hear you on the language barrier, i have been trying to adjust do the language barrier that i have with the rest of the world. lunch...dinner....supper....i have given up...i just say meal time. anotehr one....pop....soda...coke, i have no idea i think i have given up saying pop, but when i run into someone that says pop i can't help but give a high five!
ReplyDeleteLove this!
ReplyDeleteI think the dinner/supper thing is more of a rancher/farmer comment. Because when growing up those are the same terms we used. There was never a lunch. Same goes for my husband that grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana.
ReplyDeleteAnd now that we pretend to be city dwellers, the language has changed back to lunch/dinner so we don't confuse our friends. :)
But trust me - on so many other fronts - we speak a completely different man/woman language. arg.