Accents speak louder than words. As the husband and I found
out one fine evening in a MacDonald drive-in. It had been a long day out and we
had depleted most of our energies and all of our water as we pulled into the
drive-in for replenishments.
As the lady handed us our bag of burgers, I asked her for
some water.
A what?
Water, please.
I am sorry, what was that again?
WATER
I make sure the T is heard.
Could you spell that for me?
W A T E R
The husband adds his very Indian accent to the confusion. I
decide to resort to signs.
You need a drink?
Now, I am afraid to say yes lest she misses what I might be
saying.
Waaatttteeeerrrr
I try it in slow motion with brilliant emphasis on the T
again.
She looks at us like she would probably look at aliens.
Which we were, technically speaking. And as aliens we have a secret language
which we use to communicate in silence. We decide to let the matter of water
go. The Coke will have to do.
I reach for the empty bottle of water to try to squeeze out
a few drops as the husband thanks her politely for nothing. I believe she
spotted the odd habit of the aliens and realized what they wanted.
Oh you mean wa..er!
The ‘t’ was almost not there and whatever was in its place
sounded like a d…Very pure American H20.
We nod, a bit skeptical, because now we don’t know for sure
what she thought we needed. Turns out, she understood alright and soon I was
sucking ice cold water wa…er…whatever…through my trunk.
I thought I had left the complications of accents in the
drive-in until yesterday when I asked my four-year-old son if he wanted to have
some water.
He squinted at me for a long second before he nodded.
Yeah.Wa…er!
