“Do you have any tomato sauce?” was the beginning of another confusing conversation. My friend had moved into the same building as me. As she hadn’t unpacked and been shopping yet she and her husband had bought meat pies for lunch.
“What kind of tomato sauce?” I was puzzled
“The normal kind,” she answered, probably also puzzled as to why I was puzzled.
But there are so many different ways to make tomato sauce, it depends what kind of herbs you use etc etc…. did she want me to go and buy some tomatoes and make her a sauce?
After awhile I realized she was asking for what an Aussie would always ask for when they have a meat pie. It’s just that I forgot we call it tomato sauce, if she’d said ketchup I would have known straight away.
“Like other aspects of language and culture, you can learn a certain amount about the rules for conversational interaction by careful observation. However, again as with other aspects of language and culture, you will acquire a large amount subconsciously through massive exposure to people who are conducting conversational interactions.”
Greg Thompson
Language Learning in the real world for non-beginners 1993, Section 6 page 34
2 comments:
He he, I don't remember you being confused, you must have hid it well. The funny thing is we actually use Heinz tomato ketchup which is a different recipe to their tomato sauce but I still call it sauce not ketchup :-)
i was wondering if you would recognize yourself! oh no, now i'm spelling like americans too.
i remember feeling really confused- it sounded like you wanted me to cook you a meal.....but once i realise /realized what you meant i felt weird that i had felt confused. lots of those moments when i got back to oz after being in China for 18 months....wondering what its going to be like coming back this time, i've been feeling nervous about it, that why i've started the series
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