I found an interesting story the other day in the BBC journalist John Simpson's book.( News From No Man's Land) "It was early in the morning, and I was sick of the thought of another hard-boiled egg. People were walking out of the kitchen eating fried eggs with Afghan bread, and I asked for one too.
"Oh no, sir," said Rahman Beg. " No fried egg."
"Don't give me that, Rahman Beg. I want one."
"No fried egg, sir. I am sorry. No is fried egg today. Have nice cup of tea."
My temper, never very far from the surface in the mornings, especially when I am hungry and haven't yet had a cup of tea, nice or otherwise, exploded.
"Don't be so fucking stupid, Rahman Beg. What do you think all those people are eating out there?Sheep' testicles? I want a fried egg and I want it now."
" Very sorry , sir. Rahman Beg is thinking you are saying "Friday". Is Thursday today sir. Have nice fried eggs, sir.You will like." "
This reminds me of two experiences I have had recently. I was teaching an English class at a Sony building in Tokyo. It was this god awful early class. It started at 7:50 am and yet one student was always in the classroom when I got there at 7:30. One day I asked her why she arrived so early. She said that she got there so early because she needed to take a bath. It wasn't until a few weeks latter that I came to understand that she had wanted to say that she needed to"take a bus" . Likewise, another student gave me much to ponder about when he answered the question "what is your best friend like ?" with "He is the most opportunistic person in the world." I finally realized that he had mixed up the word "optimistic" with the word "opportunistic".