What young children do when they hear a foreign language

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

azunite — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:47:37 GMT

common characters, but un-common use,

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

dinker — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:13:49 GMT

Phatic communication serves a social purpose.

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

Maurits [MSFT] — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:21:30 GMT

My interpretation of "What'you doing?" was "Whatcha doing?", socially acceptable responses to which include:

* Not much.

* Hey.

* 'Sup.

* (involved secret handshake)

* (nod of acknowledgement, possibly accompanied by a grunt)

A response of "why, thank you for asking... how kind of you to take an interest... as it happens, I was trying to decide what we should have for dinner next week, so I'm glad you dropped by; do you happen to have any ideas on the matter?" would deservedly earn a blank stare.

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

chandra babu — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:17:44 GMT

I was amazed so many times the way you interpret little things and convert into wit.

Here is the sample

"The purpose of the telephone is to amuse me, but this was just some guy who provided no entertainment at all."

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

Superdude — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:01:42 GMT

"How do you do" -> "Do what?"

"Hasta la Vista" -> "OS Suxxor."

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:34:59 GMT

I'm kind of shocked at the amount of updog in this thread

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

Larry Lard — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:43:12 GMT

@Keith Perhac - your friend should know better: we had those Burger King adverts over here a few years ago, and now everyone knows that the correct response to "What's Up" is simply "What's Up".

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

Keith Perhac — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:24:11 GMT

@CodeOrDie

@Anonymous

I am American, and my friend is British. It drives him nuts whenever I ask "What's Up" because he has no clue how to respond.

After about a year or so he finally became able to (haltingly) respond "Not Much," and was very proud of himself. ;)

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

Cheong — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:04:06 GMT

I found it's very interesting that my niece also said Chinese version of "What'you doing?" a lot back when she was about 2 years old.

re: What young children do when they hear a foreign language

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:07:14 GMT

@CodeOrDie

I am a native English speaker. (And an American, to be more specific, as usage can differ.) Here is my translation of some of your phrases:

"How are you?" -> I don't really care how you're doing, so I expect you to answer that you're doing well even if you're not.

"What's up?" -> I don't really care what you think is happening, so I expect you to say not too much, or "the usual", or something like this. Even if you have something interesting to say, I'm probably not prepared to hear it.

What are you doing? -> Depends on tone... When I read this unqualified, I think of a somewhat interrogative tone that's used to threaten or demean someone, or get them to stop what they're doing. But your definition is accurate as well.