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Rufus the Roofer – Divided by a common language

2009 May 6
tags: , , ,
by yankeebean

yankeebeanHere’s how the conversation went:

(Note: I was only half-listening because I was making lunch which involves constant rustling)

Mr NiceGuy:  I wonder how long Rufus will take…

Me: What?

Mr Nice Guy: I hope Rufus is getting on ok, I hope it doesn’t take too long…

(I stop rustling, wander out of the kitchen and look at him)

Me:  Have I ever met Rufus?

Mr NG:  What?

Me:  I don’t think I’ve ever met Rufus, I don’t know who you’re talking about…

Mr NG:  No, hahaha!  I’m talking about the roofers [this time he pronounced roooo-ferrrrs]

ha HAAAA!!!!  He was talking about the roofers on the roof (who were, at that precise moment, bashing around up there and fixing some leaks) – and I thought he was talking about someone named Rufus…

It’s not necessarily a hilarious story, but what I STILL find hilarious is that after 9 years with Mr NG I still don’t always understand his accent :)

It reminds me of the first time I said ‘weed-whacker’ in front of him and I thought I was going to have to give him CPR because he thought it was so hilarious.  I’ve gotta admit, I think ‘weed-whacker’ is gloriously descriptive compared to ‘strimmer’ – more violent, though, but I guess that figures…

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  • http://parlezvouskiwi.net parlezvouskiwi

    I get this all the time, being with a Frenchman and him trying to understand my ‘Kiwi-ised” english. It makes for some hilarious misunderstandings :-)

  • http://www.shesnotfromyorkshire.com peacefulyorkshire

    Upon meeting my boyfriend (Mr. Chill) on our first date we were at Starbucks in York.
    I asked: “What type of films are you into?”

    He then replied: “I like the Sunday nights pornos that are sometimes on the tele”.

    I was shocked at his up-front answer, but tried to keep calm thinking well, at least he is admitting it now and not later! I then said
    “Right, so you’re into Pornos, okaaaaaay…..”

    He then turned bright red and said “No! I like Poirot’s not PORNOS!”
    Whew, glad that one was cleared up (although we all know that pornos can be that tad bit more interesting on a Sunday night anyway…)

  • http://michelloui.blogspot.com Michelloui

    When I first moved to England I lived in north Northumberland and I started dating a local geordie lad. An American fresh out of the States confronted by a thick Geordie accent provides great opportunities for misunderstandings of all kinds. I remember once I couldn’t even begin to understand what he was saying about something and as I was struggling I asked him ‘can you just for once try to speak… I dunno, the Queen’s English?’ What an idiot! Even then I wasn’t one of these Americans who expects all the world to speak English just for them but I was so frustrated! He laughed and fortunately had a good sense of humour about it, and tried to help me understand him. I still cringe when I think back to that.

    Accidentally English has a post right now on the different ways we say things http://accidentallyenglish.blogspot.com/

  • Dreamer

    hahaha what a great story! i deal with this all the time!!

  • yankeebean

    So yesterday Mr NiceGuy says, ‘Looks like everyone’s getting into Porn!’

    And balked… ‘WHAT? Getting into Porn??’

    He laughed again and said, ‘No, PAWN – everyone’s pawning their stuff because of the recession’

    HA! I’m not sure which one I prefer ;)

  • http://www.shesnotfromyorkshire.com peacefulyorkshire

    So Porn has shown to be quite a word of confusion, then! Let this be a tiny lesson my fellow sassy American ladies in UK, next time you get excited when your man says “porn” you’d better ask him twice if that is what he really means. hehe

  • http://www.expatmum.blogspot.com Expat Mum

    As a Geordie (now in the States), I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be transplanted there. It’s hard enough for other Brits!!!

  • http://www.usmeetsuk.com Christiana

    Hah, what a great post – it’s so true! We have incidents like that all the time :)

  • Vanessa

    The first thing I did when I saw my boy yesterday was ask him to say ‘roofers.’ Once he did, I was so excited and said ‘OMG! It does sound like Rufus.’

    I just asked him to say ‘Pawn’ and once I started giggling he told me that he is not letting me read this blog anymore.

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