"Battered Veg"
We really like Finn's doc, Mena Sathappan, a groovy Indian lady whom we visited on Friday. Sometimes, though, her accent makes for slightly funny misunderstandings. The Finnfatha has been experiencing some crummy acid reflux, so she suggested some methods for helping:
Dr. S: "Do you have a veg pillow?"
Me: "Uh... I'm sorry, a...? {thinking, "Veg, as in vegetable?"}
Dr. S: "You know, something to elevate his head?"
Me: "{thinking, "Ah, WEDGE"} Oh yes, absolutely."
Margot and I enjoyed the "veg" thing particularly because we have a running joke about tempura being "battered veg," based on a skit from a British comedy show. Once we got the wedge pillow, Margot said, "Man, if Finn spits up on this thing, it really will be 'battered veg,' in every sense." :-)
We also enjoy the doc's pronunciation of "esophagus"--"EE-so-FAY-gus." Makes me want to ask whether there's a book of Aesop's Fables about the EEsoFAYgus!
Comments
Mixing up the 'v' and 'w' sound is quite common for us peeps from Southeast Asia.. for example, my brother always amuses the local Subway staff by always asking for a 'wedgies and cheese' sub. Ouch.
[Heh--it's all quite charming. Our marketing director talks about "penetrating wertical markets." This makes me think of the scene in "A Christmas Story" where the Chinese waiters sing "Deck the halls with barrs of harry, fa ra ra ra ra..." And I can't imagine how I sound when trying to roll R's in Spanish, or when trying to pronounce Middle Eastern person/place names that contain guttural sounds not found in English. --J.]
Posted by: Abbas | April 9, 2008 09:31 AM