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Spanishly Speaking

I was in the local office of a federal agency today. I sat down to wait and noticed that the desks of the employees were labeled with signs. The sign directly in my line of sight was yellow, an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of yellow paper, with a huge "8" centered on the sign with the word "WINDOW" above the "8." Maybe the signs were throwbacks to the old days when the employees sat on stools behind a long counter, separated from the taxpayers people by panes of glass with little slots in them. Today, the revenuers customer service representatives sat at desks with the appearance of being friendly, personable, and approachable.

Below the black "8" on the yellow sheet of paper was the word "ocho," which, I believe, is "eight" in Spanish. I had German classes for three years in high school, then took German 101 in college -- I figured I'd coast to an easy "A." That was not to be -- I was tricked into revealing my ability to speak and understand German fluently by the German Professor of German and was put into the fourth-year German class with the only senior German major in the entire school and a junior, who was a princess from Lichtenstein, coasting to an easy "A," where, if he graded on a curve, I was going to be totally fucked.

I do recognize, even though I never studied Spanish, that "ocho" means "eight." It does not mean "8," however. I checked the universal translator on Dictionary.com just to be reasonably sure. Although I'm not 100% positive, I am almost certain that "8," in Spanish, is "8." I can't be too sure, but if I spoke only Spanish and came into this office for assistance, I might be thrown off by the word "WINDOW" on the sign because there are no windows, but desks. And the universal translator is of no help.

Posted by Bill at May 11, 2009 11:59 PM