The Confused English-Language Student

The Borneo Post offers a Malay urban legend about a confused English-language student who bumps into an English speaker (identifiable as a "white man") at the airport and says, "I'm sorry."

The English speaker replies, "I'm sorry too."

The learner replies, "I'm sorry three."

"What for?"

"I'm sorry five"

The English speaker: "I'm sick of this," and starts to leave.

The learner: "I'm sorry seven."

‘I’m sorry three, five, seven’ tickles delegates during debate on economy
Borneo Post

KUALA LUMPUR: An anecdote from a Malay student trying to master the English language while preparing to further his studies abroad had the delegates in stitches during the debate on the economy at the Umno General Assembly 2013 yesterday.
The delegate from the Federal Territory, Afendi Zahari, said the incident occurred at the airport when the student from the East Coast accidentally bumped into a foreigner and tried to apologise in English.

[via Legends & Rumors]

Literature/Language

Posted on Sat Dec 28, 2013



Comments

There are no comments yet for this post.
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.