Oh pshaw, on Wed 21 Jun 2006 10:49:29p, D.Currie meant to say...

>
> "Wayne Boatwright" <wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com> wrote in message
> 28.19...
>>
>> Where I live, in central Arizona, there are countless Mexican shops
>> where enough English is spoken and understood that shopping there
>> requires no unusal effort. I have learned the product names in Spanish
>> of things that interest me. I have neither need nor desire to banter
>> in Spanish or any other language for the purpose of shopping.
>
> There's a little shop that I go to where they make tortillas and sell
> Mexican groceries. Not a big store, but the tortillas are good, the
> cilantro is always fresh, and the avocados are better than the
> supermarkets, and usually cheaper, too.
>
> One fellow usually waits on me; I have a feeling his English is better
> that some of the others in the store. But it's not like we have big
> conversations. Usually they just ring up the purchases, tell me how much
> it is, count back the change, and say "thank you."
>
> But now and then I ask for something, and the only time he didn't
> understand what I wanted was when I asked for corn husks for tamales. I
> didn't know the Spanish word, and he didn't know the English, but when I
> explained it, he had someone go in the back and get a bag of husks for
> me, no problem.
>
> Considering how good his English is, generally, I was surprised that he
> didn't understand me, but then again, he probably doesn't get many
> non-Mexicans coming in and asking for corn husks.

Exactly so. This has also been my experience in the shops where I prefer
shopping.

--
Wayne Boatwright @¿@¬
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