Saturday, January 03, 2004

Do you speak English?

This is sort of a trick question.
I work with people from various countries, and the English we each speak is quite different. We have a number of people from England in our department. Sometimes there are comical confusions over the simplest words, just because the vowel is different. But the largest contingent is from India. While many are articulate and fluent, the idioms are quite different. In some cases, they are self-explanatory.
Today morning.
Club together.
Updation.
Try again after some time.
Do the needful.


In other cases, it fakes me out. For example, there is an overuse of the subjunctive. I think it is used as a way of sounding polite. But to me it sounds conditional, and I end up confused about what is intended. One common usage is to report, "we would do thus and such". I mistakenly infer an implied condition. We would run the program if it were working (but we won't). But apparently it means that we will run it. Or maybe it means we already did. I'm not sure.

If someone says "We have not tested the program till now", does it mean that we still haven't tested it, or that we didn't previously test it, but now we finally have?

Another one that fakes me out is a special usage of the present or past tense that apparently means the future. Sometimes I feel like I'm in that famous Abbot and Costello scene.
"What is the status of the program?"
"It is done."
"Really? It is done already?"
"Yes, tonight"
"Oh, you mean it will be ready tonight?"
"Yes, it is done"
"Is it done now?"
"No, tonight".

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