Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK

by Dr. Tilde Cedilla




SWAT I SAID: I feel honored to word as a therapist at the Center for English as a First Language, partly because English is my second language. You could almost say third language, because I am from Cuba, and once I learned Castilian, or classical Spanish, I noticed how much we Cubans skip consonants and whole syllables in our speech. Spanish speakers from other countries complain that we mumble.

This awareness makes me notice the same feature in American English. Sometimes it sounds comical, at least to me.

The other day, I gave Zerk Johnson, our head of maintenance, a lift to town to pick up his pickup, which had needed some repairs. When we got intto Underbelly, Zerk asked if we could stop at the truss company. I looked at him, alarmed, and asked if he's been to the center's doctor, Amelia Raitt Payne, about this.

He looked at me, also with wide eyes. "Huh?"

"If you need a truss, the insurance will pay for the operation, you know?"

"What? Wait. What? I just need to cash my check. What are you talking about?"

"Check? Oh, your check! You mean trust company!"

"Swat I said. Truss company."

He does do very well at his job, I must say.
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