Sunday, July 27, 2008

Communication Problems

One of the engineers I work with is Japanese:

Tomohito: Can you bring me a cramp?
Me: You have a cramp? Well take a break and stretch it out.
Tomohito: No, bring me one.
Me: How the hell am I supposed to bring you a cramp? And why for that matter!
Tomohito: A CRAMP! A CRAMP! BRING ME A CRAMP! (Makes hand motion of a clamp)
Me: Ohhhhhhhhh, Ok! I’ll bring the cramp.

Just a friendly warning for the future: if a Japanese man tells you there is an erection coming up, don’t get disgusted - it means he’ll be voting in the near future.

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A conversation between me and a Pakistani taxi driver. He was asking me about my job:

Me: We had a lot of problems last week... It can be a real pain in the ass.
Cabbie:
There problem with seat?
Me:
Huh?
Cabbie:
What is hurting your ass?
Me:
(thinking....) Ohh! No no, I meant the last trip to the desert was really hard. Pain in the ass is just an expression. I’m not in any pain.
Cabbie:
Ahh I see, my friend. Yes, my job also provides me ass pain as well.
Me:
Well sitting in a car all day would do that to you I suppose.

2 comments:

tgt said...

FIRST!

CB: I laughed my ass off reading your post this morning... ahhh... reminds me of the good old days. No, I am not talking about Manila or Taipei. I am referring to trying to understand what the hell people in New Hampshire were saying.

Post more often, dude. I need the laughs.

Mary said...

I LOL'd too. Of course, I think my son is the most clever guy on the planet all the time.

Please bring photos home with you!

Love,
mom