Greetings and Salutations

It was a BIG day on Thursday...I finally got my I-phone sorted out and am now back to the "connected" side of the world. Actually I was doing quite fine without it (let's say after the initial 48 hours of disconnect). Once the fingers calmed down, It was actually nice to not have the "world" at my fingertips 24/7. A flashback to what life used to be like. quite relaxing, really.

Nonetheless, it's time to jump back to the "real" world again and be on the grid. At this point, the phone is not ringing off the hook, but I foresee a future of clients, friends etc. needing to get a hold of me and voila, I have a phone! Those of you with I-phones or any other "smart" devices know they are not JUST phones, but email boxes, instant cameras, facebook update vehicles, I-pods and a source of many other entertaining options.

For any of you who have lived or spent a significant amount of time in a foreign county whose main language is NOT English, you may understand this. It's not that I'm not trying, but my Dutch skills are not quite up to par. If one's vocabulary is greater than a 10 year old's or if you are NOT talking about bike racing, there is a GREAT chance I'm going to lose the conversation. I know, I've only been here 3 1/2 weeks but Jeeze, it feels so strange to feel stupid. When in these situations with a room full of ALL native speakers who are related and/or friends to boot, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. As they banter on with gestures and exuberance, a blank look does not get many points. At that point, my brain is going somewhere completely different. Perhaps composing a workout, thinking about my friends and family, or maybe just what I'm going to eat next. Not all rocket science. This is where the I-phone is handy. At a family birthday party this afternoon, I hit that place. However today, I could go online, follow he Tour de France, read emails and still be a part of the room full of Flemish speakers. Yes, it seems very rude of me but on the other hand, if I'm staring blankly into space and can't contribute to the conversations, why not??? I used to nudge Mr X regularly for some translations, but that got old fast. There is no way a person can do that with keeping a flow going...

This brings me to greetings and salutations. In the USA, we normally answer with a hello or perhaps "this is XXX". I've heard some folks say "Yo" while others pick up and say "yes". That one always seemed a bit rude, but nonetheless it exists. From what I can disseminate, it is similar here. Halo, met XXX, etc. All in all, not too different.

The Goodbye, on the other hand is not so predictable. I've always been fond of bye bye, see you later, and just plain bye. Here? hmmmm. The first time I heard Mr X signing off on a phone call I cracked up! I'm not sure if it is just a regional dialect thing, or a mod "outta here" style thing or what, but this is how he and many others that my keen ear had picked up say. It sounds like a loud "A-yo!" and if you are old enough to have watched the tonight show with Johnny Carson and his loyal sidekick, Ed McMahon, you would know the sound. Believe me, this is it! I have repeated in numerously after Mr. X hangs up just because it is so inviting to say! Loudly with a chuckle I repeat after him hi-yo.. This is so cool! How did this phrase come to be? Do they even know Ed McMahon? Clearly Ed McMahon was a serious imbiber, maybe he was an Irish Flandrian? Perhaps he had heard about the 400 varieties of beer here, had a major bender and when he left the drinking establishments gave out his special ByeBye.

I doubt I'll ever know but as soon as those calls start coming in, you can guess what I'm going to say....