"Broken" English?

It’s been entertaining to watch my sister in law speak English as she learns more and more while she is here in America. If you haven’t heard, she’s from Estonia and traveled here in May of 2003 to go to school and see what kind of education she could get for herself in graphic design. About a year ago, she and my brother got married and we see them often for dinners and family get-togethers.

Kristi already pretty much knew the language when she got here, but there is always room for improvement.

When she first set up a myspace account a few years ago, she added a picture of her sister displaying a quarter size hole in her behind. The caption reads, “Krete broke her pants from too much dancing”.

Matthew and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the use of the word “broke”. It was quite amusing.

Although she does very well, there have been several occasions where my brother RB has needed to correct her on her incomplete understanding of English phrases and words. Like the time that we explained a friend couldn’t meet us for a movie because he was working a graveyard shift. She was shocked and horrified that he worked in a graveyard, especially in the dark! She told us, “I can’t believe they have him out in the dark digging graves!”

I guess it doesn’t stop with Kristi because her sister Krete (broken pants) came to visit from Estonia last summer and we taught her to play some card games. They play many card games in Estonia as well and she was familiar with the traditional face card deck. While playing one of our favorites, Michigan Rummy, she called the “Jack” card “Boy”. We stopped and gave her a curious look and she asked, “That’s not what he is? This older man here is King, so his son is just a boy, no?” We laughed and told her that calling him a boy was just fine by us but in cards he is called, “The Jack”. She looked at us funny and asked if his name was Jack… I guess some things just aren’t very simple to explain, especially when you’ve known some things all your life but don’t know why they are called what they are. Is his name Jack? If not, why do they call him that? Helping someone else understand my own language can be tougher than I thought.

Well, I guess those cute lingual mishaps may always be around to surprise and entertain us. Even though Kristi has been in the country now for 6 years, just last Saturday while dining at Sizzler , she offered us the mint the waitress left on her receipt saying, “Does anyone want this? They always break my mouth.”

We love you Kristi and your charming slip-ups! Thanks for keeping us giggling.