Friday, January 09, 2009

也不好說不同國家。就是同一個國家不同的地方﹐都有其不同的口音。也就是因為這種說話的口音﹐所以只要我們一開口說話﹐別人便能夠猜得到我們來自何地。是騙不倒人的。

所以﹐上週末在BAYSWATER那邊的皇朝裡面﹐那幾個一邊吃飯﹐一邊不理會旁人感受﹐只管高聲闊論的星加坡人﹐一開口講英語﹐便立即露出馬腳﹐原形畢露。原來﹐只是一些能夠講流利港式粵語的星加坡人。(我相信﹐香港人不曉得﹐也不會模仿講星加坡英語。畢竟﹐便是回歸中國超過十載﹐香港人依然有值得自己自豪的地方。雖然﹐偶爾也有些媚共媚過了頭的人會TRY-HIS-BEST地TRY HIS BREAST來娛樂大家。)

也有一個發生在自己身上的故事。

聖誕假期﹐在奧蘭多渡過了一個星期後﹐我們便飛往紐約去。

我們在曼克頓租了一間房子。屋主本來打算托她的朋友到甘乃迪機場接我們。可是﹐碰上大霧關係﹐許多甘乃迪機場的飛機都未能如常起飛或降落。為免要過份延遲航班﹐航空公司決定轉飛紐約另一個機場LA GUARDIA﹐然後安排旅遊巴士接送要在JFK轉機的乘客到甘乃迪機場。因為我們的目的地就是紐約﹐我們當然舉腳贊成航空公司這樣的安排。至少﹐不用在奧蘭多機場浪費時間。我們留在紐約的時間本來已經不多。才得整整的三天。

可是﹐也因此﹐屋主要我們自行乘搭的士到曼克頓去。因為她突然聯絡不上她那位朋友﹐要他駕車轉去LA GUARDIA。這當然也不是什麼的大問題。因為我們本來就預備乘的士到她那所房子。我們也不希望為了要等候她那位朋友﹐白白在機場浪費時間。

紐約的士當然沒有倫敦那些舒服。所以﹐也便宜得多。可能因為沒有倫敦的士那樣舒服﹐紐約的士司機也比較多言。至少﹐我們碰上了一個很喜歡說話的印度裔的士司機。

「你們從哪兒來的﹖」的士司機問道。

「奧蘭多。」我老實地回答。我知道沒有必要隱瞞什麼。不過﹐聽到我的答案﹐那位的士司機臉上竟然有點詫異。他頓了一頓又問道﹕「奧蘭多很好天氣罷﹖陽光燦爛﹖是第幾次來到紐約﹖」

「也算不上很熱。不過﹐的確是陽光燦爛﹐」我借故望一望窗外道﹕「至少﹐比這灰暗暗的天空好得多。這才是我第二次來到紐約。我以為會很冷的。不過﹐似乎今天有點溫暖。」

「對﹗電臺說﹐今天有六十多度。」那位的士司機回答說。我不曉得轉換華氏和攝氏﹐所以數字上實在不知道究竟有多熱。不過﹐外面的空氣的確有點暖。聽著那電臺廣播﹐原來﹐就是因為本來寒冷的空氣碰上了突如其來的溫暖空氣﹐所以整個紐約都給霧鎖著了。變得有點像倫敦。

想著英國那邊的足球比賽﹐突然聽到那位的士司機又問道﹕「你們本來是什麼國籍﹖」

「香港。」

「在香港哪兒﹖」的士司機竟然有點興奮地繼續問道。不過﹐我其實不大懂得他的意思。什麼「在香港哪兒」﹖一個紐約的士司機不可能會曉得香港那些地方罷﹖

「我曾在香港做生意。曉得一些地方。像尖沙咀﹑油麻地。你們住在哪兒﹖」他似乎聽得到我的自言自語。

「不﹗我現在住在都柏林。」我繼續老實地回答。

聽到了我這個答案﹐的士司機拍一拍他的大腿道﹕「聽罷你那腔英國口音﹐早就不相信你們來自奧蘭多。果然如此。原來﹐來自愛爾蘭。」

口音這東西﹐的確是騙不倒人的。

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are missing the point. It is true that you can tell a person's nationality or his/her place of birth by their accents. The point I was trying to make is that it is wrong to assume that there is some sort of accent hierarchy, like oh Hong Kong accent is superior than Singapore accent, or British Queen accent is better than American accent. Or whatever.

After living in a foreign country for a long time, I can assure you that Hong Kong people have been made fun of more often than we deserve because of our so-called "HK-British" accent. Not so funny when we are the victims of prejudice, huh?

The Man Who Loves Everton said...

Hi an Exile from HK,

No, I don't think I am trying to weigh different accents, though it sounds otherwise. If it appears that I think Singaporean accent is funny, it's simply down to the fact that I don't like Singapore at all. Similar to the way I treat Stevie G. I hate Liverpool FC so I hate Stevie G, though I admit that he is arguably the best British football player at this moment. Okie, I admit it is a kind of judegment. (Yesterday, I said there's none.)

Having said that, I think one has to admit that some accents are more advantageous in social's life. That's true. Fortunately and unfortunately. And remember a song in the musical Avenue Q, which is one of my all time favourites, Everyone's a Little Bit Racist. A little bit prejudice, like a little bit racist, I don't think it really matters. One is not living if one has to put everything politically correct. Do you agree?