ENGLISH VOCABULARY

 

The very first time I stayed with an English family for a whole month was nothing but a daily ordeal ! Even to ask for some more bread or some salt, I had butterflies in my stomach !! I could not even recognize my voice ! It sounded as if I were hoarse or bleating like a sheep !

To crown it all, the family had a basset and in those days I was scared stiff of dogs.

That "good boy" (as the lady called him) was over the hill and had a nasty temper (due to rheumatism ? My foot !!)

I guess he felt my fear and tried to increase it by growling at me whenever we were in the same room. Even when his "mum" scolded him ("naughty boy" was the worst humiliation), the cheeky four-legged sausage kept humming his war tune at me !

Well, one evening we were having dinner, and while the lady had gone to the kitchen to fetch a jug of water, I started dealing with my veggies...

A lot has been said about English flashy green peas, but not enough about English boiled potatoes ! They are strong-tempered, and cutting them can sometimes turn into a merciless fight.

So, there I was, when suddenly the blade of my knife slipped on the hot potato and sent it straight into the dog's basket. Immediately the growling went off ! For once, with good reason ! Sure, being hit by a boiling hot potato was painful !

But when the lady came back from the kitchen and heard her little devil, she flared up and said that enough was enough, and that he would spend the night in the kennel outside !!

I wanted to explain it was my fault, but I started to go off road in my thoughts, searching for the words. Of course, in vain !

I was faced with a tongue-tied feeling of hopelessness !

I let the alleged culprit be dragged outside, whereas I could have said :

" There is one hot potato in his basket" or " A potato has flown into his basket".

A bit weird, but then I could have drawn in the air the flight of the potato from my plate onto the basket tarmac. It would have saved an innocent 

 The year after, I was nearly charged with first-degree murder on the same four-pawed guy ! No kidding !

To get into his good graces, I had decided to prepare his favourite food bowl and then become his favourite waitress.

Easier said than done ...

I mean, in those days I was already a poor cook, but Dusty was not a finicky guest, and anyway, pouring a dollop of dry pet food into his bowl

was not such a big issue ! 
Unfortunately, once more vocabulary played a trisk on me ...
I confused ' to eat ' and ' to feed ', or to be honest, I knew the noun 
' food ', but didn't know you just had to change double 'o'  into double 
' e ' to turn it into a verb.

So, of course, when I said that that I would eat the dog, everybody

was horrified and so was I !


It took me several years  and several misundertandings and blunders of that kind to realize that building your vocabulary is a ceaseless job, but so exhilarating that it is worth it !



So, whatever the language you are learning, just remember that the more words you know, the easier it will be not to get into a pretty pickle .


That's all for this weeks, folks !