Enunciate!

[Ed]

My nipper needed a new bike, so we went along to Tri UK and set about choosing one.  Our sales assistant was about seventeen or eighteen and spoke like a surfer - all gnarly and like dude this is like radical, ye-know

So we pick out three contenders and I ask him which is the best and why, etc., and the conversation carried on something like this -

Me - "So what's good about this one?"
Him - "Good frame."
Me - "What's good about it - is it lighter than the others, or something?"
Him - "It's gerbil."
Me - "Gerbil?"
Him - "Yep - gerbil."
Me - "How'd you mean?" (Must be some street surfer talk I haven't heard and will be able to impress friends and colleagues with in the future )
Him - "It'll last a long time and take a few knocks."

(At this point I stand there scratching my head for a few seconds, and then - *bing* - a light goes on in my head)

Me - "You mean it's 'durable'?"
Him - "That's what I said, dude..."

[canadian]

Oh yeah. One of my pet peeves, too. Thanks for the chuckle, Blunt!

I used to think I was starting to go deaf. Turns out I was just surrounded by a bunch of teenagers (and too many adults) who seemed to be afraid of opening their mouths when they spoke. I got real tired of saying 'eh? what?' all the time. After a while, I started sounding like a broken record: "Will you stop mumbling, for heaven's sake? Speak up!"

Good to have affirmation that it's not me suffering from premature hearing loss!

[SharonBell]

However, I think I'll begin to introduce some of those words at faculty meetings, just to see if people are awake. "I think you'll find your furniture is gerbil," I'll say and nod sagely. 

[Geoff_N]

So, his vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

[Walker]

That's hilarious, Blunt.   Gerbil..... 

When my kids mumble I ignore them and pretend I can't hear them. If they still don't speak clearly, or too fast, I just keep saying, "What?" until they get annoyed and speak really, really, slowly, sometimes even spelling the word. I love that, because I can always reply, "Why didn't you say so?" I play them at their own game sometimes, too, by using words I know they won't understand. It's great fun, and they're becoming increasingly gerbil to my jibes.

[Ed]

Oh, I love winding my kids up by pretending I can't hear them.  At the point where they're screaming, blue in the face, I say, "Alright, alright - there's no need to shout, ye know."

Back to the gerbil - I was thinking how my thought process went through the loop during the above conversation.  In a matter of a second or two I had formulated and discounted two or three possibly explanations for the word 'gerbil' cropping up in the conversation, and in connection with him saying 'gerbil' meant the frame would last a long time and take a few knocks. 

My first thought was that 'Gerbil' was a foreign trading name that didn't translate well, like the Toyota MR2 in France - when said aloud in French it sounds like 'merde' (shit).  Same with the Rolls Royce 'Silver Mist' - in German it apparently means 'the silver fart'   "Yes," my boy could say with pride, "it's a Gerbil frame.  Made in Germany, ye know, and it'll last a long time.  Take a few knocks, too."

Then I thought the manufacturers were maybe trying to draw comparisons between their product and the traits of a gerbil - trying to make it seem like a good thing - gnarly and tough, like Monty's Desert Rats, who kicked Rommel's arse all over North Africa.  But then I thought about one of my wife's friends visiting another friend's house, where, upon entering, she saw a ball on the carpet and gave it a good kick, not realising it contained a gerbil and was in fact its exercise ball.  Apparently it made it across the room in record time and the ball, upon hitting the skirting, burst open and thus a dazed rodent sprawled out on the carpet.  Not exactly tough, and they don't tend to live more than a few years, so it didn't seem to fit the profile

Amazing what goes through your mind when you're trying to figure stuff out, isn't it?

[Walker]

"it's a Gerbil frame.  Made in Germany, ye know,

at first I thought this meant it came without a seat     

[SharonBell]

 

[sharon]

   Oh, hell, it's good to know it's a world-wide epidemic and not just contained here in me own house!  hahahahaha  I've thought for a few years that we needed an interpreter for our teen; he speaks like he has a mouth full of mush most times--annoyin!

Nothin's more fun than getting them all riled up at their own game, either.  Our son has become immune to my torments but the 6yr old, now she's gets right red bout the whole business still.  After I finally 'hear' her and actually start to answer, I'll speak lower and lower and finally just mumble some incoherent syllables and raise me eyebrows.  She'll look stunned for a few seconds, like she's tryin to figure out what I've said, then I'll say 'Well?  Now what'sa matter?  Didn't ye hear me?'

Try answerin any question with a question and watch them; or with some completely unmeaningful string of words: "Mommy! Mommy, can we go to Mamaw's yet?"  asks the 6yr old.
"The bear has hair, hair everywhere." says mum.  "What?"  6yr old.    "Yah, and he lives up there and breathes mountain air."  says mum.    Sometimes she'll question about it and other times just stalk off after a hearty "hmmph!"

[littlelaniec]

Well, I really do have partial hearing loss and I DO have to keep asking them what they said until they freak out! It still gets them angry, which makes me smile!

Lanie

[Ed]

   You crack me up, Sharon

You're right about answering a question with a question, though - I think all kids go through that stage where they just keep asking 'why?'  Doesn't matter how many (sometimes very lengthy) explanations you go into, their immediate response is, "Why?"  I've known people driven to distraction by it - actually break down in tears of frustration.  All you have to say to the kid is, "Why do you want to know?"  That one confounds them every time

[Neuromancer]

LOL funny  dont see gerbil equally durable in any language  but i do know about misunderstanding peeps

In America if you want someone to wake you up its a wake up call...

I hear (not sure) that in the UK you ask someone to "Knock you up"  (in the US it means you are asking someone to get you pregnant)

Oh and thanks for the definition of merde I always assumed it was like meurte (spanish for death)  or moreth ( which i think is hebrew for death in roman charecters... granted when i wrote Barak it was almost 20 years ago LOL)

[Ed]

Hi, Neuro - long time, no see   Hope all's well with you.

'Knock me up' has both meanings here, and was frequently employed in Carry On films and cheesy sitcoms throughout the ages, although it's not something I think I've ever said, or heard somebody say in real life, come to think of it

I think 'dead' in French is 'mort'. 

[sharon]

All you have to say to the kid is, "Why do you want to know?"  That one confounds them every time

You're absolutely right on that!  You ask em why they wanna know and they just stop and blink... think... sometimes they get the fish-on-dry-ground look, too.  I love it when you can hear the    "WTF?"    going through their heads!