Bring the Beef (Impromptu English in the staffroom)
A few weeks back, a group of exchange students visited from Queensland. Lovely for me, as sightseeing suddenly became part of my paid job description, and going to parties on a weekend turned into overtime. On several occasions, one of my English teachers made a point of inviting me along to help her to socialise with the exchange teacher from Queensland, whom she was hosting.
This teacher decided it was a fantastic idea to try to teach the other teachers Australian slang. I’ve never been big on slang, or at least I assumed that was the case, until I discovered just how much of my daily vocabulary was colloquial. Anyway, he decided to teach 3 of the teachers some Australian sayings – ‘Whatcha goin’ on about?’, ‘What’s the damage?’ and ‘Bring the beef’ (which became a bizarre adaptation of the notion of ‘having a beef with someone’ – in the end the real expression was too difficult to explain in Japanese). It’s fantastic because one of the teachers now uses these sayings on a regular basis, but completely out of context. Like you’ll pass him in the hall and say good morning, and he’ll shrug and say ‘What’s the damage?’
As this particular teacher, Potato-sensei, sits at the desk opposite me, we have some interesting daily conversations. He suffers from hay fever, so he’s often getting ‘Bless you’s from me in response to his sneezes. On one occasion, he sneezed, and an older teacher sitting next to him had caught onto the game and offered a very well spoken ‘God Bless You’ (let it be known that this teacher does not ordinarily use English, even to me, unless he’s drunk). Potato-sensei was a little stumped, but was prompted by the other teacher.
‘Please say ‘thank you’.’
‘Oh. Thank you.’
‘It’s my pleasure’, the blesser replied grandly. Potato-sensei gaped at him for a moment, aware he had me as an audience, then turned up his nose and said proudly ‘Bring the beef’. The other teacher, of course, had no idea what he was on about, but Potato-sensei just threw him a knowing look and said definitively, ‘I study English too.’
This teacher decided it was a fantastic idea to try to teach the other teachers Australian slang. I’ve never been big on slang, or at least I assumed that was the case, until I discovered just how much of my daily vocabulary was colloquial. Anyway, he decided to teach 3 of the teachers some Australian sayings – ‘Whatcha goin’ on about?’, ‘What’s the damage?’ and ‘Bring the beef’ (which became a bizarre adaptation of the notion of ‘having a beef with someone’ – in the end the real expression was too difficult to explain in Japanese). It’s fantastic because one of the teachers now uses these sayings on a regular basis, but completely out of context. Like you’ll pass him in the hall and say good morning, and he’ll shrug and say ‘What’s the damage?’
As this particular teacher, Potato-sensei, sits at the desk opposite me, we have some interesting daily conversations. He suffers from hay fever, so he’s often getting ‘Bless you’s from me in response to his sneezes. On one occasion, he sneezed, and an older teacher sitting next to him had caught onto the game and offered a very well spoken ‘God Bless You’ (let it be known that this teacher does not ordinarily use English, even to me, unless he’s drunk). Potato-sensei was a little stumped, but was prompted by the other teacher.
‘Please say ‘thank you’.’
‘Oh. Thank you.’
‘It’s my pleasure’, the blesser replied grandly. Potato-sensei gaped at him for a moment, aware he had me as an audience, then turned up his nose and said proudly ‘Bring the beef’. The other teacher, of course, had no idea what he was on about, but Potato-sensei just threw him a knowing look and said definitively, ‘I study English too.’
OMGS I think I met that group of Queensland students! Townsville, I think it was? They were on the shinkansen going to Hiroshima a few weeks ago. :O
Posted by fearow | 8:17 PM