Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Ink tube?

We've started taking a Flemish class, and we've been practicing with gusto ("Ik kom uit Boston! Ik woon in Leuven, waar woon jij?" "Alsjeblieft, alsjeblieft, alsjeblieft" etc).

Each class is two hours, and we get a 10-minute break in the middle of each class, so we've been doing a little socializing too. Aaron and I are the only Americans out of about 25 students, and here are some of the questions we were asked at break today:

"Why do the political parties have colors?"

"What do you call the tube in the middle of a ball point pen with the ink in it?"

"America is very politically correct; if a man holds a door for a woman, will he get yelled at or sued?"

We also learned that in Russia, roller coasters are called "American mountains" while in Spain they are called "Russian mountains" Moreover, in Russia, the word for "uranium tube" and the word for "tube in the middle of a ball point pen that holds ink" are in fact the same word (upon learning this, I did not crack any cold war jokes, but it took a lot of willpower).

In Australia, are they Spanish Mountains?

5 comments:

  1. hahahaha all true.

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  2. p.s. internets tell me that the translation for that word, "стержень", is "core", although that's not quite true - it only refers to cylindrical objects.

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  3. it's friday night, 11 o'clock. my girlfriend is out. and i'm at home. reading your blog.

    this.is.my.life.

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  4. Natalia, in addition to being informative, your post has made me grateful that Belgium uses the western alphabet.

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  5. Anon: this blog is a swinging way to spend a Saturday night, let alone a mere Friday!

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